Musings on "military life"
I have gotten used to seeing soldiers and airmen in uniform on bases and have enjoyed seeing the huge military aircraft that fly over and land at Ramstein Air Force Base.
When we were driving on the Autobahn the other day, a C-5 Galaxy (Wayne knows all the planes) flew over us and it was BIG and low and cool to see. "The Galaxy is one of the world's largest aircraft. It is almost as long as a football field and as high as a six-story building and has a cargo compartment about the size of an eight-lane bowling alley. The C-5 is the only aircraft that can transport any of the Army's combat equipment, including the 74-ton (66,600-kilogram) mobile scissors bridge, tanks and helicopters." (Text taken from http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-5.htm). Ok, the stupid upload picture button is doing nothing now, so if you'd like to see a picture of the C-5, go to that link. We also routinely see C-130's and C-17's. Also big, but smaller than the C-5.
In our room, we get AFN, Armed Forces Network on T.V., plus a few local channels in German, a few BBC channels, CNN international, and one channel in Spanish. AFN is kind of funny to me. People describe it as having no commercials (which Wayne's employee says he misses--can you imagine after finally being able to fast forward through them with DVR's?), but it has PSA's and military updates. They tend to be on topics like fire safety, remember to vote (but if you're in the military, don't be spreading your political views), get help if you're a drunk, that kind of thing. It seems a tad bit brainwashey to me, but I'm new to the military life. AFN broadcasts certain selected shows after they air in the U.S.--sometimes the day after, sometimes seasons ago. I can pretty much always watch yesterday's CNN and Fox News shows, so we're very informed about what's going on in the U.S. Probably more so than when we lived there b/c with so few channels in English, there often isn't anything better on. There are about four ESPN channels on AFN, so if we were sports fanatics, we'd be set. Many people rent previous seasons of shows and watch them all in a weekend. But, Wayne's employee is tech savvy and TV-addicted like Wayne, so once we get into a house and buy some TVs, he'll set up a catch system from which we can get Comcast from my parent's TV (Mom & Dad, we'll talk to you about that!) and buy a DVR thingy here, so we can record current season shows and watch them when we want. Hooray! I'd watched the first two episodes of Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters and after seeing the first of Kath & Kim really wanted to watch that too, but have been left hanging so far. Not to mentioned that we missed the last two episodes of Project Runways (no spoilers, we'll download it and watch it when we have time). I do sometimes try to watch German TV to add to my language ability, but the dialog in sitcoms is so fast that it's hard to catch anything but a word or two--even ones like old Still Standing episodes that I already know some of the dialog. Newscasters speak more slowly, so sometimes I'll try that, especially to try to get an idea of the weather forecast. CNN international posts weather around the world and Frankfurt (closest big city) is right after Chicago. Interesting.
Ok, I'll end todays posts with the quote from my Dove chocolate wrapper because I thought it was good:
"Think without limits."
When we were driving on the Autobahn the other day, a C-5 Galaxy (Wayne knows all the planes) flew over us and it was BIG and low and cool to see. "The Galaxy is one of the world's largest aircraft. It is almost as long as a football field and as high as a six-story building and has a cargo compartment about the size of an eight-lane bowling alley. The C-5 is the only aircraft that can transport any of the Army's combat equipment, including the 74-ton (66,600-kilogram) mobile scissors bridge, tanks and helicopters." (Text taken from http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-5.htm). Ok, the stupid upload picture button is doing nothing now, so if you'd like to see a picture of the C-5, go to that link. We also routinely see C-130's and C-17's. Also big, but smaller than the C-5.
In our room, we get AFN, Armed Forces Network on T.V., plus a few local channels in German, a few BBC channels, CNN international, and one channel in Spanish. AFN is kind of funny to me. People describe it as having no commercials (which Wayne's employee says he misses--can you imagine after finally being able to fast forward through them with DVR's?), but it has PSA's and military updates. They tend to be on topics like fire safety, remember to vote (but if you're in the military, don't be spreading your political views), get help if you're a drunk, that kind of thing. It seems a tad bit brainwashey to me, but I'm new to the military life. AFN broadcasts certain selected shows after they air in the U.S.--sometimes the day after, sometimes seasons ago. I can pretty much always watch yesterday's CNN and Fox News shows, so we're very informed about what's going on in the U.S. Probably more so than when we lived there b/c with so few channels in English, there often isn't anything better on. There are about four ESPN channels on AFN, so if we were sports fanatics, we'd be set. Many people rent previous seasons of shows and watch them all in a weekend. But, Wayne's employee is tech savvy and TV-addicted like Wayne, so once we get into a house and buy some TVs, he'll set up a catch system from which we can get Comcast from my parent's TV (Mom & Dad, we'll talk to you about that!) and buy a DVR thingy here, so we can record current season shows and watch them when we want. Hooray! I'd watched the first two episodes of Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters and after seeing the first of Kath & Kim really wanted to watch that too, but have been left hanging so far. Not to mentioned that we missed the last two episodes of Project Runways (no spoilers, we'll download it and watch it when we have time). I do sometimes try to watch German TV to add to my language ability, but the dialog in sitcoms is so fast that it's hard to catch anything but a word or two--even ones like old Still Standing episodes that I already know some of the dialog. Newscasters speak more slowly, so sometimes I'll try that, especially to try to get an idea of the weather forecast. CNN international posts weather around the world and Frankfurt (closest big city) is right after Chicago. Interesting.
Ok, I'll end todays posts with the quote from my Dove chocolate wrapper because I thought it was good:
"Think without limits."
LOVING the photos and the blog - so wonderful K to folllow your life over there. We are praying for you and Wayne!!!! And Greta too!!! Linds and R