The world is not a safe place at the moment...

Well, a little update for you, my CCF brothers.

Landed here at Azraq Air Force Base in Jordan on June 24th. When we got out of the plane onto the tarmac, we could immediatly feel the heat and the permanent hot wind here.
Temps vary between 40 and 48 degrees Celsius (104 and 118 °F) and the wind feels like a hairdryer at maximum level right in your face... It's hot in the desert!

We took over from the Dutch, who have been here for a year. Belgium will take the coming year for its part. We also have a large US contingent here with Predators and Reapers (drones for you civilians ).
Our Belgian F-16's are in full operations mode and have already flown quite some missions (about three per day, on a 24/7 rythm). I'm not allowed to tell you guys any further details on our missions (as you might understand ).

Azraq AB is some 50 miles south of the Syrian border. It's dry country here, but Aman is quite a beautiful city. The Jordans are real warm and nice people. It's also a quite modern and peaceful country, surrounded by troublesome countries (Israel, Syria, Irak...).
The Jordanian Air Force (with a large squadron here on base) has quite updated F-16's and the Jordanian army is well equipped. So it's borders are well guarded and defended.
Jordania is also a valued partner of NATO and we feel very welcome here.

Most people are Muslim here, but women are allowed to vote and drive and do not have to cover their heads if they don't want to.
It's a free country like ours with their own culture...

Oh, and the food is good!!

I'll keep y'all posted about my adventures here

Brings back memories (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq 1990-91), but I was Army so not as pleasant. I remember the air force seemed to be better taken care of (I have recommended the USAF to all my younger relative interested in the military).

Good luck. Be safe.

Wayne

dwouncmd wrote: I have recommended the USAF to all my younger relative interested in the military.

You are a wise man... As ex army I can tell you that this is a fact

Morfoot wrote: We don't need to know what the mission is just as long as you report back that your birds went out fully loaded with arms and came back empty! That's all that matters.

Since the TV news in Belgium is reporting it, I can tell you that our flyboys have already dropped quite a few (US top quality made) big ones hehehe...


Oh, and we have some fun R&R activities too. We have a nice beach volley field right in the middle of our compound... Had a game tonight with the appropriate Top Gun music blasting through the speakers

Kristof,
I too would like to thank you for filling us in on what's going on with yourself. Yes, keep up the good work.

Kristof,

I view you more as an EM50 Urban Assault Vehicle kind of guy.

Be safe and stay Hydrated Brotha!!

Morfoot wrote: So much for the TimBob does Belgium tour this summer!

Wow wow wow my brother... Keep calm... There's always September!
From the moment I return home on Sep 2nd, I plan on going straight to my summer cabin and start up the boat!    

So, France got hit again:

Terrorrist attack in Nice

They did their attack on the national holiday in France... Belgium has it's national holiday on July 21st... We are preparing for the worst

Kristof wrote: So, France got hit again: Terrorrist attack in Nice They did their attack on the national holiday in France... Belgium has it's national holiday on July 21st... We are preparing for the worst

Crazy although this is not the first time these terrorists have driven a vehicle through a crowd of people. Happened in Austria last year.

Stay safe out there.