Tag Archives: Air Force

Uncategorized

The Hardest Worker I Know – a Feel Good Story!!

84 Comments

You know those stories you read about someone coming from nothing and working hard to become a success?!  Well, Chris is a perfect example of how that can happen!

3 generations
Chris with his dad & grandpa

Chris has 4 sisters (he is the next to youngest) and about the time he turned 12, his parents divorced.  His mom raised all of them on her own.  She often worked 3 jobs at the same time to provide for them.

Early on Chris knew he wanted to be a pilot but he didn’t think he had a chance since there wasn’t any extra money.

high school
high school

However, he found a way!!!  He lost the beard (and some of the hair!!) and enlisted in the Air Force.ChrisHe earned his college degree while in Active Duty and then he joined the Kansas Air National Guard in the Weather Flight.

Eventually he earned a pilot slot and went to pilot training (Hooray, since we met during that time!!!)!!  Of course, he didn’t stop working hard just because he was in – he graduated top in his class!!!

Chris has been part of the Kansas Air National Guard for over 20 years now and has been promoted numerous times.

Effective Monday, September 8, Chris will become the Vice Wing Commander at the base.  (For those of you who don’t know military lingo – this means he is the 2nd in command of the entire base!!!)

This is a huge deal for a guy from Holton, KS who has worked incredibly hard his entire life for everything he has!!
I am so very proud of him and this incredible accomplishment/achievement!!

Screen Shot 2014-09-03 at 3.38.48 PM

Chris has always been a natural leader and he will shine in his new role.

In all areas of his life (as Colonel Turner, dad, “babe”) Chris sets an example for me and everyone around him to work hard and always do the very best job possible!!!

Happy Thursday!!!

Kim

Uncategorized

A Fun Way to Honor a Legend

90 Comments

I don’t know how many of y’all are familiar with the “rules” of the Air Force but one of them involves facial hair – basically, a man can have a mustache if it is well-groomed and doesn’t extend past the lips.

Not appropriate:

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.53 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.43 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.32 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.21 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.12 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.03 PM Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.12.54 PMScreen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.13.12 PM

March was a bit different!  The Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh threw down a challenge in February and issued an all-in Mustache March.  

This tradition is in honor of a great Air Force pilot – Robin Olds.  His mustache did not met the regs for the Air Force!!!

Robin Olds was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was a “triple ace”, with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general.  

Side-note – way back in May of 1996, Robin Olds was the speaker at Chris’ Pilot Training graduation ceremony!!!

So, Chris felt the need to participate!!!

pretty good!
pretty good!

However, he decided that just growing a mustache wasn’t quit enough.  He wanted to look more like Robin Olds.

Chris/Robin Olds

Pretty close, huh?!

Chris’ unit had a contest for the month and guess who won????   Yep – Chris was the winner by a landslide!!!  Nice!

All I know is – I’m so glad that March is over and the mustache is GONE!!!!

much better!!!
much better!!!

It was a fun contest for the guys and I think Chris enjoyed participating but I was not at all sad to see the last of the mustache!!!

Screen Shot 2014-04-01 at 9.30.23 PMOnly heard that a few 100 times this past month – the boys and Chris pretty much have the same warped sense of humor!!!  Good times!!

Mustache – yes or no?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

A Retirement Tribute

18 Comments

Today for my 43 I worked my abs (silly since the rest of my workout was very ab/core heavy!!).  I used my band – 

Turbo Fire Band
Turbo Fire Band

With the band – I did a bicycle counting a right twist and a left twist as 1 rep.  The resistance of the band adds a nice little extra to the standard bicycle crunch.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZZS5XrQhEw’]

After that, I did my 3rd round of the Climbing Everest challenge (from Taylor @ Lifting Revolution).  Today instead of doing 1000 total reps, I did 1500.  Instead of 7 sets of 100 mountain climbers, I did 7 sets of 150.  And the 6 other moves that are normally 50, I made 75.  Yikes – that really made this a difficult workout!!  

Tuesday – 1000 reps – 14:13
Thursday – 1000 reps – 12:23
Saturday – 1500 reps – 19:13

Yesterday was not a beach day – we had much better things today!!

Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.31.09 AMThe main reason that we picked Bradenton Beach, FL for our vacation this year was because some of our long-time friends recently moved here and yesterday was DP’s retirement from the Air Force. Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.30.50 AM

We first met the Page family when Chris and DP were in pilot training together in Lubbock, TX.  They started off flying the T-37 Tweet – Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.32.26 AM

The next plane that they both flew was the T-1.  They were both planning to be “heavy” pilots (not fighter pilots).Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.33.52 AM

After Pilot Training, the Pages moved to Oklahoma and DP flew the E-3 AWACS – Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.35.11 AM

Later in his career, he flew the RC-135 (an air refueler – Chris flies the KC-135) – 

the 135 is the gray one in the middle
the 135 is the gray one in the middle

For 22 years, DP has served our country!  He has been deployed numerous times and has been involved in 1000s of missions  both during war-time and peace-time.  

DP
DP

Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 8.20.38 AM

The retirement was a great time to honor DP and for him to share about the family and friends that have supported he and his family during his career.

Throughout DP’s incredible military career, his wife (Erica) has been the most supportive military wife possible.  She has survived numerous deployments, moves all over the place (even other countries), raised their 2 boys (often as a single mom) and done it all without ever complaining!!!Daryl & Erica

The Page family is a true example of a family that has given themselves 100% to our country!!!DSCN3611

Plus, they are just amazing people!!  They are the kind of friends that if you need something (anything)  you call them!  We have taken several trips to Hawaii with them, visited their home and hosted them in our home – every time we are together is always a fun experience and plenty of great memories are created.  (It helps that their 2 boys and our 2 are close in age and all get along!)

Congratulations DP & Erica!!  We are proud to be your friends and love all of the times we have shared together!!!  We’re looking forward to tons of new memories (on the beach!!)!

Happy Saturday!

Kim