Richard's first mission

Like I said in my previous post, Richard went on his first mission in September and it lasted 13 days. It was originally scheduled to be 5-7 days. It was supposed to be an aeromedical evacuation mission which was to include the usual stops in Washington D.C. and Germany before going to Afghanistan. Well, they apparently had to make a stop on an island in Portugal to drop off a part for a plane that was broken down there. When they landed, their plane broke! Some piece on the landing gear busted as they were landing. So, the whole crew and all of the space-A passengers were stuck on a 22 square mile island in the Pacific Ocean that is a territory of Portugal for 3 days. If any of you have ever heard of the Azores islands, you would know that it is, by far, NOT the worst place to be stranded. It is a beautiful island that is known for its amazing scuba diving. Richard said the water there was the bluest he'd ever seen. (see the pictures below of Richard and the crew on the island) So anyways, while "stuck" on this island Richard and the crew were able to do whatever the heck they wanted until the plane was fixed. Basically, it was a mini vacation courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue! I wish I could've tagged along. Richard has promised to take me there some day, but the plane tickets are outrageously expensive to get there. Although the food and things on the actual island are quite inexpensive. He visited a local winery, watched local bull fights and bull runs, and eat amazing food that was ridiculously cheap. He pretty much had a terrible time. lol. Then once his plane was fixed, he flew to Germany. Since his plane had broken his mission was pretty much scrubbed and he was scheduled to come home. Just when we thought he was coming home, another plane broke and they took the part off of his plane because they had an actually mission to complete. So the poor guy was stuck in Germany for a whole day. Boo hoo, cry me a river! lol Well the morning he was scheduled to leave they decided to give the crew another mission. He actually did wind up going to Afghanistan and then finally came home. The nice part about him being gone for so long though is that he had 3 whole days off when he got back. We did absolutely nothing but hang out together. Well, we did take a trip up to the beach which was gorgeous by the way. It was so nice and warm. Steven actually played in the water. The dog, who is terrified of anything that even resembles water, was even playing in it. After Richard was home for exactly 8 days he left on his second mission. Apparently there are a lot of people on leave or something because "this doesn't usually happen." Usually they only fly about every 6 weeks. Not 3 weeks out of a month. At least he gets paid well while he gone. :)