WE ARE GOING TO GEORGIA!!!! SCOTT WILL BE FLYING IN AN E-8 JSTARS.
The following is a letter Scott wrote to family about his/our experience.
I just wanted to let you all know about my/our experience over the last couple of weeks leading up to our assignment night last night. I will start by telling you that as a family we had decided that we would put the E-8 JSTARS plane as our first choice. This plane is not a very popular choice among students but it is still relatively hard to get because there are only 5 openings per year. Three weeks ago a kid in the class ahead of me got one of them so there were only four left for the year (they go by fiscal year and we are only the third class of the year). I didn't know how much they would want to space out the training slots so I started to get a little nervous that I might not get that airplane. They are stationed at Warner RobinsAFB near Macon, GA and there is a really good children's hospital in Atlanta that we were hoping to get Adi into. There are also many other factors that led us to make that plane our first choice, but as always, Adi's health is the primary reason. Anyway, two weeks ago we had to rank all of the planes possible from 1 to 18 and turn that into our flight commander. A few days later he told us which planes would be available and how many of each. Sadly there were no JSTARS on the list. I was pretty disappointed but he told me he would talk to the commander and see if he could trade out one of the planes. He told me to get any facts about why Adi would need to be in Georgia over another place. Of course Adi's doctor was scheduled to be out of the office the whole next week but Anna somehow managed to get her to sign a letter stating all of the specialists Adi would need to see etc... Anna also wrote a letter and then I turned those into my flight commander. The next week I got an email from my flight commander telling me that he tried to get the plane for me and that no matter what the Air Force would try to help us out in our circumstances. From the email I really got the feeling that they weren't able to make the switch and it looked like we would be going to Louisiana where the B-52's are stationed. We decided that there must be a reason for us to go there and we were okay with that and started preparing for Shreveport, LA. A couple days before our assignment night I got another email from my flight commander to fill out a preference sheet for what position I wanted on the B-52 and which base we would prefer (they also have a base in Minot, ND). I was then 99% sure that we were going to get a B-52. I still held on to a sliver of hope in the very back of my mind that maybe they had gotten a JSTARS for me and were just messing with me, but it was a very small sliver. Well, last night our class got our assignments. The theme our class had was an awards ceremony like the Emmy's. For everyone of my classmates, a picture of an airplane was projected onto a big screen and then the commander would say a little bit describing the person and their 'starring role' in a movie and then the slide would change and the person who was getting that plane had their face photoshopped as the lead a movie poster. I'll attach mine so you can get a visual. I was the 2nd to last to get my plane and instead of putting up a picture of the plane, my flight commander called me up and had me come to the front and face the crowd. He then described how this last year has been challenging for me because of external factors and how I've worked really hard and some other stuff that I really can't remember (I was having a really hard time focusing because I was getting really emotional thinking about what was about to happen). Then he switched the slide and my whole class and all of my other friends here jumped out of their seats and went crazy. I didn't have to turn around to see what had happened and I just teared up and looked at Anna and the girls. My classmates knew how much it meant to our family to go to Georgia so they were almost as excited as I was when that flashed on the screen. In fact, I'm almost positive no one will ever be that excited to get a JSTARS ever again (usually it is seen as one of the assignments that no one wants). It was unbelievable and I still get emotional thinking about that moment. I don't know the circumstances behind the story but somehow in the last couple weeks they were able to pull some strings and get me my JSTARS. I know that during this last year Heavenly Father has led us every step of the way and has continually opened door after door for us to be in this position now. We have been so blessed and we are so grateful for all of the love and prayers that we have felt from across the nation. I will graduate on Dec 2nd and then we will start to get orders that will determine when we move to Georgia and we'll be sure to keep you all in the loop. Sorry this was so long, but it was such an amazing experience for us that I wanted to share in detail how it came about. We love you all and will miss you all this holiday season, but we will be thinking of you.
