Our new "family"

After the excitement of Chris' promotion on Wednesday, we thought we'd had a big day. But it was only half over. That evening around 6, Chris received a phone call from his detailer in Tennessee, the person who decides when and where he will be going next. We had already been informed that Chris had been selected to return to Whidbey Island as a squadron Department Head, but did not know when we would be moving or which squadron he would be joining. Chris' detailer told us Wednesday night that he was "penciled in" to join the Black Ravens of VAQ-135 and that we would be returning to our beloved northwest in January. Things now feel more "official" and we are so thrilled!


In addition to Chris' knowledge that he will be flying once more and my joy at knowing we will be returning to Anacortes, Chris had a few extra reasons to be excited about these orders. First, the Black Ravens deploy and serve aboard the USS Nimitz, a carrier that is based on the west coast. This means that he will be much more likely to have port calls in the far east (where he's never been) than in Europe (where he's already been multiple times). He was hoping for this. Second and most surprising, he discovered that the Black Ravens are one of the earliest squadrons to "transition" away from their current jet, the EA-6B Prowler, to the new EA-18G Growler. This transition will most likely be taking place while he is in the squadron and he is very happy about the prospect of getting some flight hours in this new jet. Although Chris did not specifically ask to join a squadron that would be transitioning, he'd always mentioned that it would be fun to fly the new jet, so I have been praying that God would send Chris to the best squadron for him. Finally, one of Chris' current bosses used to be a Black Raven, so he is looking forward to letting him know that he too will be joining the Ravens. We hope this new "family" will be a good fit for ours!


For more information:

VAQ-135: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAQ-135

EA-6B Prowler: http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/ea-6b_prowler.htm

EA-18G Growler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA-18G_Growler




Goodbye Prowler.




Hello Growler!