Getting Hired

Throw back to one year ago when I was in P2.
I was verbalizing a trauma scenario here.

       Now that I’m a Florida licensed paramedic it’s about time to get some experience! Unfortunately, like many young people know, you can’t get experience without a job and it’s hard to get a job without experience. The Lord knows though and it's under His control so I'm in the process of testing to be hired at the local ambulance service as an EMT. Then when I have some of that golden experience under my belt I can get promoted to paramedic. 

        I've been taking a psychology course and a medical terminology course online and also attempting to obtain NREMT certification at the paramedic level. For some reason I struggle passing static cardiology. I'm also nearing the end of my cadet career in the Civil Air Patrol. I hope to continue on as a senior member and give back to the organization that helped me become the person I am today. So you see I've been quite busy. Now if I can just go back from thinking ALS (advanced life support) to BLS (basic life support) I should be able to get hired. *thumbs up* 

First Life Update of 2015

Well, hello and a late happy new year! Goodness, I can't believe it's already February 2015! I'm in the second semester of my senior year in high school and it seems like just yesterday I was starting high school. I'm having a hard time accepting that I have to grow up. Oh, well.

We got a bunch of baby chickies today. I'll have to take a picture so I can show you all. They're Brown Leghorns.  We built a stanchion by the barn, which we are actually getting around to finishing. Daddy and Grandpa put the vinyl siding up on two of the walls and they put the window in. It's lookin' good. Oh, and Honeybelle is definitely pregnant, which is a good thing. After she has her calf (in about late March), we will never have to run out of milk again! (crazy laugh) Sugar-Muffin, on the other hand... I sort of doubt she's pregnant. We shall see.

My Civil Air Patrol life has been somewhat laid back. I got my first pinning ceremony for my promotion to Cadet Senior Airman. Yay! You're supposed to get one when you promote to Cadet Airman and again for Cadet Airman First Class. We had some... interesting situations that prevented that so at least it's done now. I'm sort of relieved because everyone was getting really pushy for a ceremony.

My flight commander, C/CMS Bilardi and the cadet commander, C/Maj Cinnamon pinning me on Monday.

I did something a little out of character for me last Sunday. I curled my hair (using the pin curling method, of course. I would be the person who'd burn myself if I had an iron.) I got a lot of compliments and it was a nice change. Hmm. Might do it again someday. This coming Sunday will be fun. It is called "Old-Fashioned Sunday". We dress old fashioned and have an old fashioned dinner on the grounds. A couple friends and I are planning on dressing in Regency Era (in other words, Jane Austen's time) clothing (even though this is America and that was England...). I found the dress I'm going to wear at Goodwill for $11. It has a lace top and a sort of sea greenish skirt. It's so long it needs to be hemmed though. Despite my non-existant skill of sewing, I am attempting to hem it myself. We shall see how that works out.

I convinced my daddy to take me to our town's small, one room library the other day. They need a better selection of biographies. I love Abraham Lincoln, but could you have some lesser known people also? So I got a big, fat bio of President Lincoln, a book about the year 1775, and a book about King George VI. That ought to last me a while. I love reading and a good cup of tea. Earl Grey... I think I'll go get me a cup right now.

And so I shall leave you with a quote:

"I declare there is no enjoyment like reading" -Jane Austen

Farewell, good friends, until next time. (I am obviously feeling very dramatic today. I'm starting to scare myself.)

Flying to St. Augustine

I had another orientation flight about a week and a half ago. This time was much better than the first one. I sort of knew what I was supposed to do. :) Last time I really didn't know what I was doing. (I think it was too much new information at once.) We flew to St. Augustine, ate a little breakfast, then flew back to Ormond Beach.

My concentration face

Photo taken by Lt Col Wisniewski

Here is a photo of those of us who participated in the Ormond Beach Memorial Day Service (I forgot to make a post about that.)

Photo: 1st Lt Giles

My First Glider Flight

This morning we headed over to the Pierson airport. Pretty much all it is is a grass strip in the town of Pierson. We met with some other people from different squadrons and learned how to fly a glider and be a wing runner. Wing running is actually pretty fun. You get to attach the tow line from the tow plane to the glider, then hold the plane level and run with it as it picks up speed. When it was my turn to ride the glider, I was a little nervous, but I think I might like it better that flying powered aircraft. I learned a lot about thermals and how the hot air pushes you up. We got over one thermal and went from 1500 feet to 2700!

The diagonal strip going from the bottom left to the upper right is the runway.

You pull the little yellow handle to release the tow line. As soon as you release the line, the tow plane will go down and to the left and you will bank to the right.

Me and my instructor, Lt McKibben

It was tons of fun. :)

C-17 Trip

This past weekend was absolutely amazing! In summary, my Civil Air Patrol squadron rode a C-17 to Charleston, SC, slept on the USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier), toured the destroyer, Laffey, and the submarine, Clamagore, and then drove over to Fort Moultrie, and flew back on another C-17. I had a great time, got to know more people in my squadron, and learned a ton about aviation.

You get in and out from the ramp on the back of the plane. This is the ramp half open while we were taxiing.

Airman Lohman and Ben decided to pose with a sleeping Sergeant Dye.

Inside the USS Yorktown. This photo does not make the stairs look steep enough. Any steeper would have been a ladder. We had to carry our luggage up this to get to our berthing area.

Another view of the stairs.

L to R: Major Fowler, Sergeant Shepherd, Airman Bauder (me)

In the captain's seat

L to R: Sergeant Giles, Airman Lohman, Airman Weiker, Sergeant Spitz, Sergeant Shepherd, Major Fowler, Airman Bauder, Airman Johnson

Group picture

This is in the Clamagore. Seriously, they slept above torpedoes.

If you can see, the doorways are very small. 

A skeleton in the jail in the USS Yorktown.

Maj. Fowler, Sgt. Shepherd, Amn Bauder

A posed picture at Ft. Moultrie

The guys goofing off

On the C-17 back

I had a great time. Big thanks to Lieutenant Giles for arranging everything!

Flying a Plane

       For those of you who don't know, I very unexpectedly joined the Civil Air Patrol in early March. The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the US Air Force. It has three missions: Aerospace Education, Emergency Services (like Search and Rescue), and Cadet Programs. It was started in World War II when the civilians wanted to help defend the country. You should read the rest. It's really interesting.  Ben was supposed to be the only one to join. He came home from the first meeting he attended and was talking about all the interesting things he'd learned. I wanted to go just to see what it was like and before I knew it, I said, "Sure. I'll join." If there's an opportunity, take it, right?
       A great challenge in my life (as well as in the CAP) has been getting fit. I never had the motivation. Well, I think I've got it now. I have decided that I don't want to stay a Cadet Airman Basic for the rest of my time in CAP and physical fitness is the only thing that is keeping me from ranking up... Whew! So as you can see, it has a pretty good influence on me. I would totally recommend joining a squadron.
       When you join the Civil Air Patrol you get five orientation flights. Five on a single engine plane and five in a glider. I took my first o-flight last Saturday. It was the most fun and terrifying thing I have ever done. There are a ton of checklists that you have to go through to make sure everything is ready for a safe flight. Reading the list off was the easy part. After I was up in the air and the controls were mine, things got a little harder. All in all, it was amazing and next time, I will definitely bring my camera up with me. For now, here is a picture Mommy took of me while I was checking the fuel for dirt and/or water.

This weekend I am going on a trip (with the squadron) to Charleston, SC. We will be sleeping on the USS Yorktown. It will be fun and I am excited. Don't worry, I will be sure and bring my camera. :)