I babysat my best friends kids the other day. They helped me make some cookies. Not sure if I will get to send any of them though. There's about an inch of frosting on each cookie followed by a half a jar of sprinkles. I wonder how the frosting would do in the middle eastern heat. Hmmm probably not pretty...
Crystal mentioned in one of her letters that they wouldn't mind some healthier snacks to go along with all of the cookies. Being a woman and on a weight loss journey myself, I decided to throw in some dried fruit and a homemade trail mix.
Crystal and I have been emailing all day. She is super nice and willing to answer the hundreds of questions I have. Here's what she said:
I fly for a good 5-6 hours some days and thats just the flight, not including getting it started, turning everything on, or getting to work, and getting all our briefings for the flight prior to walking out there. So, trying to lose weight, is tough when you really have to watch what you eat. So thats why I let the guys have all the cookies. Yes, you can ask how many people are in our squadron. There are approximately 59 aircrew, plus we have 6 life support personnel, 4 intel personnel, 1 army guy attached to our squadron (his name is Bryan Demotts), and 4 enlisted admin personnel. So thats 74 people total. Its actually not the normal amount of people we have in our squadron. We left a few aircrew back at home for various reasons and we are sort of min manned right now since we just lost a few pilots that had to go home. Its just our squadron, we are the 335th Fighter Squadron "Chiefs". Its one squadron in a operational group of at least 5 other squadrons of different types of aircraft. Its definitely not like the army, even though this is an army base.
As for the other girls, yes, you can just swap their names in for mine on the address. It will go to the same place. Just keep everything the same and change the name. And yes, a job like yours and mine can be difficult when you really have very little control over your life/free time. LIke you said, you can get called in on days off, the same thing goes for us as well. Pretty much any time here is all work, i get to work out, sleep, and get up and do it all over again. At least back home our squadron will try to keep our weekends sacred and not call us in. However, at least every 6 weeks or 8 weeks we go on a 2-3 week mini deployment to different bases all over the country for different training exercises. So we pack up and take everyone I just mentioned to that location with us. For example, this last year, I went to Nellis AFB, NV for 3 weeks in Jan, then Eglin AFB, FL for 2 weeks in March, then MacDill AFB, FL for a week and a half in April, then Nellis again in May for 2.5 weeks. Its alot of traveling and alot of time away from home, but I guess if you're young and single, its a great opportunity to go travel. It sucks for the married guys with families. back to work for me, have a great day and GO ANGELS!
Crystal
Hi Shannon,
I was going to email you tonight and let you know I received your package and to thank you for all the stuff inside. I pretty much don't eat any of it, but there are alot of men I work with, I'm sure you can relate, so I what I do is basically leave all the stuff in the squadron around for the guys to eat. It pretty much gets eaten fast. Its great that you guys are sending stuff, I really appreciate all the effort you guys are all putting in to send me stuff. I got 5 packages the other day all with cookies! I think we have a wall built up in our squadron of entirely cookies. I know you guys can be pretty creative, and I think we can scale back on cookies. Also, the if you want to send stuff to the other girls in the squadron, their names are: Wesley Rivera, Cindy Bindert, Erin Moretti, Rose McGehee, Nina Konsavich, Melissa Wess, and Kontressa Dunaway. These are all enlisted girls and I am sure they would appreciate things like, hand wipes, body wash, lotion, loufas, air fresheners for our rooms (the type you can put in your car or something that doesnt require electricity that can be put on a hook, or just stuck to the wall). Those are just some ideas. And as a woman, I'm sure you can understand, cookies are great for the guys, but us girls, might appreciate healthier snacks, like dried fruit, or something like that. Not sure what you can come up with. I just think it would be great for those other girls to get packages and not just me. I would feel like I"m hogging all the attention. Otherwise, I just want you to know we really do appreciate the things you all have sent so far and its kind of nice getting stuff from people all over.
I can't believe you've been on nights for 3 years! I have only been on nights for 3 weeks. I hate it. I can't imagine doing this for 3 years and not seeing the sun. And I think thats awesome that you work with Cal Fire. That must be a difficult job to deal with. But it must be pretty interesting also to work with that company. All my sisters live in Califorina with my parents and my brother Roy lives in Texas with is wife and 3 girls. Its tough to get back home and visit them all since I live so far away now, I wish I was closer, but the aircraft I fly in is only stationed in North Carolina, Idaho, or England. And unfortunately I am in NC. Anyway, I have got to get going, its super busy here and not a whole lot of time to get things done. I hope you have a great week and take care.
Crystal Kirkley
** If anyone would like to send a package to one of the other girls instead of crystal, please do so. but you are not obligated to do so**
Round 14 is now OPEN!
Make sure you register for this round. Shipping starts November 2.
TAKE PICTURES!!!! I want to start posting pictures on our blog :)
Dear Shannon,
Thank you very much for the wonderful package. I am so amazed at how supportive you and all of baking galls have been. Everyone I work with has enjoyed everything that has been sent. Our flight has been well taken care of by all of you. It is amazing how so many people are reaching out to me, a complete stranger. It is a blessing to have people like you helping out everyone here. Everyone That I work with asked that you thank Baking Galls on all of our behalf. It has made the time here better, and brought up the spirits around work. I wish you could see all of the smiles every time I bring a package into our break room, it is like seeing kids on Christmas morning. I am sorry, but, I do not have a picture to send. Roseanne might be able to get you one. I will ask her the next chance that I get. I cannot say much about what I am doing here, or where I am. I can tell you that I am in a very safe location, and we are well supplied here. Home baked goods are about the only thing we cannot get on base here. As you know my name is Robert Grier. I have been in the Air Force since 2005. I am a Senior Airman stationed at Dyess AFB Texas. I work Munitions Systems Technology, (we just call it ammo). I have been working ammo since I joined the military, but, it is not my job over here. Ammo builds, maintains, tests, inspects and delivers all of the Air Force bombs and ammunition. I am 23 and married with 2 kids. My wife’s name is Jeanette, and my son’s names are; Leon he is 2, and Ash he is going to be 1 in November. Thank you again for taking the time to reach out to me and everyone over here. It is a blessing to have all of the girls of Fire and Icing letting us know that they care. It is something that I will never forget.
With much respect,
SrA Robert Grier
