The Bomber Jacket

Over four years ago my husband told me he was ready to take on a new adventure and follow his lifelong dreams to the sky.  Not really understanding exactly what this would entail – I agreed to jump on board with this adventure.  We were newlyweds, freshly reunited from a deployment to Iraq, settled in our first purchased home, and expecting a baby girl.  I was loving life – had a fabulous career as the Fitness Coordinator at a prestigious health club, worked as a researcher/writer at Gonzaga University and worked to produce and appear in healthy living films with a media company… Life was quite lovely.  But as any military wife knows, the time always comes where you must pack up your entire life and move on along your journey. Our time had definitely come to make a change.  My husband had been stationed in WA state for nearly seven years.   

After being enlisted for over eight years in the Air Force, having 2 careers (Combat Control – ie Special Ops & Air Traffic Control), it was time to earn some golden bars. My husband commissioned to be a flying officer. He headed off to Alabama for twelve long weeks of Officer Training School. I realized my life was about to change dramatically as I (for the first time) officially took on the role of military wife.  I rented our house, quit working, scheduled the movers, packed up our possessions and my little girl and set on the road to a new life. We met up with my husband (newly pinned Lieutenant Jens) in the Deep South and following graduation made our way to Texas. 

While living in San Antonio, we made some lifelong friends. I learned a very important lesson there. When you are far from your real family, your Air Force family steps up and fills in the gaps.  The connections you make are amazing and instant. Everyone is in the same situation and everyone just works together though all of the good and all of the bad.  While in San Antonio, my husband earned his Navigator Wings and became a full-fledged Fly Boy!  Oh yes,  we also had a baby boy to complete our family of four while we lived in the Lone Star State.   We now have a Californian, a Montanan, a Washingtonian and a little Texan! 

Last fall, the movers came once again. We drove our little family (with the help of my amazing mother) to the bayou.  Louisiana became our new home. We lived on an Air Force base for the first time.  Here we have the most amazing community of old and new friends, all living together, letting our children run free in the soft green grass of our connected backyards.   While we have been stationed here, my husband has flown and worked to earn his spot in the USAF as a rated Navigator – the real deal – the bombardier on the B-52. 

Tomorrow afternoon his journey to the sky will be officially complete – he will earn the coveted leather Bomber Jacket.  His graduation will be a wonderful moment for our family, friends, and all those pilots, navigators, EWOs that have been with us along the way.  I have never been so proud of any man. It has been a challenging, stressful, tearful, amazing and wonderful journey. I can’t wait to take off on our next adventure.