Chris Penningroth’s Weltanschauung » USAF

Reactivating My Account

Chris Penningroth — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:20:34 +0000

I’ve got just a nutshell’s worth of time to catch you up on everything since last June (my last blog entry). From June through October, there was nothing much going on but somehow I ended up being too busy to write. I was basically holding down the fort at work with just one colleague (in an office that normally sports a complement of four). Somewhere in there were two trips, one to Europe and one to Chile. From October through 12 Jan 2010 was all work and family. Starting just before 4PM EST on 12 Jan 2010 was the massive earthquake that crippled Haiti. Since then my office did a whole lot of the coordination involved in getting images and videos into the hands of the folks on the ground perfoming the rescue, recovery, and humanitarian assistance disbursement.

I’m finally getting caught up with life enough to at least think about starting to write about it!

Thanks for stopping by to check in with me!

Fighting for Our Future

Chris Penningroth — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:48:19 +0000

The Air Force has been under considerable pressure from several different people for the past several years. Some of these folks have actually called for the Air Force to be disbanded. I penned a short apologetic piece which I posted over in the pages section.

It’s hard to believe some folks want to ignore lessons learned over the past 80+ years of military aviation; whether out of misplaced pride in one service, general ignorance, or unreasonable disdain of my service. The Air Force must be a separate service in order for aerial forces to perform effectively in battle. Period.

Raptor Punks

Chris Penningroth — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:02:25 +0000

Congrats to the first F-22 B-course graduates!

(In our squadrons, we refer to the first-operational-assignment lieutenant pilots as "punks.")

Laying Low

Chris Penningroth — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:02:46 +0000

Not that I’ve been posting a lot lately, but I’m going to be mostly offline for the next 7-10 days. We’re getting ready for one of those "Major muscle movements" that occurs every 18-36 months in the life of a government employee in my line of work.

Returned To Base

Chris Penningroth — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:38:21 +0000

I’ve done a reverse MacArthur. I have returned from the Philippines.

As it happened, I rolled home and straight into an exercise! I’d like to say I swapped my ‘Battle Rattle’ for a chemical defense ensemble, but rather the chemical defense ensemble went on underneath the Interceptor body armor. Mercifully it’s been a cool June here in northern Japan.

It certainly was fun to get a few flights in, too, even if the weather obscured everything but the Pacific and the Sea of Japan.

Now back to the grind!

The Best Thing About This Tour

Chris Penningroth — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:13:25 +0000

The best thing about this deployment was meeting this guy:

. . . At least according to him! You know how these young folks can be brash sometimes.

You’re doing great work, AJ! Keep it up!

Battle Rattle

Chris Penningroth — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:01:44 +0000

I’ve found it nearly completely unnecessary to wear this stuff in the current theater. The primary danger is from pickpockets.

I can’t believe I traded in a G-suit for kevlar!

Update 11 Apr 2008: Due to popular demand to know which one of these fighter pilots-turned fighter-pilots-on-the-ground is me, I’ll give you all the following hint: I’m the one on the side. (Seriously, I may tell you via e-mail if you ask nicely)

Anne, I’m curious now about that riding crop, I’ll keep my eyes peeled. There aren’t many horses around here, though.

Shouldering the Load Together

Chris Penningroth — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:50:28 +0000

From a long way off, I had a very small hand in a very small way in some of this.

AFA Article About Aging Aircraft

Chris Penningroth — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 06:35:50 +0000

The Air Force Association put out an interesting article relating the age of various USAF airframes to popular culture historical events. It’s kind of a twist on that e-mail that one university puts out each year to the professors that describe the shared cultural life-experiences of the incoming freshman class.

Blue Sky Hawaii

Chris Penningroth — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:29:26 +0000

I’m blogging from Waikiki beach again. I’m here for a short TDY to Hickam AFB to see the folks at PACAF. You know, the sky in Hawaii just seems to be a slightly different shade of blue than anywhere else I’ve been. It’s always green here, too. I’m not sure I’d want to live here, but I’m pretty sure I’ll never get tired of visiting!

The great thing about these TDYs is that I get a chance to see friends. I just had dinner at an Outback Steakhouse with my friends from my North Dakota days. The slow-broiled sirloin was outstanding, as was the sundae! Great food and good conversation (and entertaining kids) make these trips worthwhile.