In addition to his demanding daily commitments, a fighter pilot will inevitably be called upon to deploy\u2014meaning he will travel to another destination to accomplish even more responsibilities.\u00a0 These deployments vary in nature and include short-term temporary duties to attend a training class, indefinite commitments to conduct combat operations, and assignment to remote tours that are a year or more long.\u00a0 Each situation presents unique challenges to a fighter pilot’s Christian walk, finances, family, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deployments<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n Most Air Force deployments are “temporary duties” (TDYs) that involve an officer departing his home station and going to another location to fulfill a mission or training requirement.\u00a0 It could be as benign as a single pilot being sent to another base to receive some form of training, or it could be as complex as an entire base deploying to a front line location to engage in combat.\u00a0 Fighter pilots also occasionally get the opportunity to fly cross-country, meaning they fly to a different location for a weekend or so.\u00a0 Contingency deployments are also frequent, with pilots and jets departing the home station and traveling to any of a variety of worldwide locations.\u00a0 There are very few “standard” TDYs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most frequent TDY for a fighter pilot is in support of an Air Expeditionary Force (AEF).\u00a0 To add predictability to deployments, the Air Force recently instituted the expeditionary air force concept, with each unit assigned to an AEF cycle.\u00a0 Each AEF, in which there are multiple units from a variety of bases, is vulnerable to be deployed during a given window of several months.\u00a0 Several years ago when an AEF window approached, it was obvious that a unit would deploy to either Operation NORTHERN or SOUTHERN WATCH, which started soon after the Gulf War.\u00a0 Those operations ended in 2003 with Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, and subsequent TDYs have been much more varied and less predictable.\u00a0 With the close of those two operations, deployment is not guaranteed but still likely to support operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, or another less famous part of the world.\u00a0 When the AEF rotation is complete, the units enter a recuperation phase before beginning the next months of training for their next AEF assignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The tenor of the TDY varies widely with the nature of the deployment.\u00a0 When a unit “deploys” to a location in the States or near a popular city, it is very much a “good deal” TDY.\u00a0 Las Vegas, Nevada, is the first location that comes to mind because it hosts Red Flag, which is a large scale exercise with aircraft from around the world.\u00a0 A pilot might be lodged in billeting, or he could potentially stay in a luxury hotel in the city\u2014costs paid.\u00a0 There are plenty of amenities, including cable TV, hotel pools, base gyms, and, of course, the local sights and sounds.\u00a0 On the other end of the extreme is a deployment to a near-bare base location.\u00a0 Rather than a posh hotel, pilots may be sleeping on a cot in a tent with 12 or more other guys.\u00a0 If there is access to a TV at all, the programming will be at the whim of the group.\u00a0 Meals are generally provided by a mess tent, and there are no other expenses.\u00a0 Often there are few other activities in which to participate, and the ability to go off-base and see the sights may be extremely limited.\u00a0 Ironically, when deployed to a location like that military members often receive much less financial reimbursements.\u00a0 (According to the US government, to “survive” in Las Vegas requires $165 a day, while the daily rate in Baghdad, Iraq, is $11.00. (The DoD source for these numbers is here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n When deploying with a unit, a Christian fighter pilot could face greater pressures than at home station.\u00a0 Most fighter pilots will want to go “out on the town” frequently; this is partially because of the desire to experience the locale and also due to the fact that most billeting rooms or hotels will have few, if any, cooking facilities, which necessitates going out to eat.\u00a0 Going out often may concern someone who doesn’t want to spend too much money or has a family back home with whom he is sharing finances.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n In the majority of the deployments I have been on, I have found that there can be a balance of social events.\u00a0 It can build comradery\u2014as well as just be fun\u2014to go out to eat with fellow pilots and experience the local cuisine of a unique location.\u00a0 If the other pilots desire to go to other places (most often, bars or “gentleman’s clubs”), a Christian can generally bow out and get a ride back to lodging.\u00a0 There may be some pressure to join the group, but firm refusals generally work well, particularly if a Christian has already established his moral reputation.\u00a0 Rather than eating out constantly, though, I found that by purchasing a few simple groceries I was able to make some of my own meals.\u00a0 This gave me the ability to eat healthier and save a little money and lot of time.\u00a0 I made my own lunches (the only other option was fast food, which got expensive after a while and was nutritionally questionable), and when I wanted free time I could make a simple dinner in my room and have plenty of time to do as I pleased.\u00a0 The alternative was spending several hours finding a restaurant everyone agreed on, waiting for the food, and then waiting on everyone to finish eating.\u00a0 With that free time I was able to do a Bible study, call my wife, read a book, or do any variety of other activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of my earliest TDYs was near the end of pilot training.\u00a0 Our final sorties required a cross-country, and it was then that I was introduced to the half-joking “two TACAN rule,” which is similar in concept to the “two time zone rule” related to business travel.\u00a0 TACANs are navigational transmitters located at military and civilian airfields.\u00a0 When a pilot departs one base he will dial in the TACAN frequency of the next base to fly there.\u00a0 The two TACAN rule simply meant that after dialing in his second TACAN, the pilot was far enough away from his home that he could misbehave and the information wouldn’t make it back to his unit or, more often, his wife.\u00a0 Later in my career I learned the phrase “what goes TDY, stays TDY,” which essentially implied that the shenanigans that went on while TDY weren’t to be repeated once back home.\u00a0 For the most part this was simply an excuse to act up while away from home, which seems to be a veritable military tradition in the theme of a sailor having a “girl in every port.”\u00a0 Obviously, no one was protected while TDY and people would find out\u2014one way or another\u2014what had gone on.\u00a0 From the Christian’s perspective, God knows everything anyway\u2014”I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind” (Jeremiah 17:10).\u00a0 A Christian fighter pilot lives life in the knowledge that God knows everything he does or thinks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sexual Purity<\/strong><\/p>\n Whether the TDY is as an individual or a group, once the distance to home increases there will be great temptations; for men, the most notable temptation is in the sexual area.\u00a0 For many young fighter pilots, the first time they go TDY will be the first time they realize they can anonymously access adult TV channels, computer pornography, and strip clubs.\u00a0 Most hotels have cable TV with varying levels of pornography that is immediately accessible.\u00a0 Also, fellow fighter pilots\u2014both married and single\u2014may carouse with the local women or patronize the local strip clubs.\u00a0 To deal with the television temptation, most hotels have the option to call the front desk and have the adult channels turned off in a room.\u00a0 If that isn’t an option, or the TV itself is the temptation, unplugging it, closing the cabinet, or covering it over are good alternatives.\u00a0 To deal with the temptation to go to strip clubs or the like, having a planned activity like a Bible study or a designated time to call family can also provide a “good excuse” for not joining in when others go.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are two other valuable techniques that I have heard to help men deal with the sexual temptation of being alone in a far away city.\u00a0 The first is to get accountability from other Christians in the group, which is addressed in the mutual support section of\u00a0Spiritual Requisites<\/a>.\u00a0 The other technique is an anecdote I heard related many years ago.\u00a0 A businessman frequently went on official trips and experienced the same sexual temptation that many men do.\u00a0 It came to a head on one trip when he found himself leafing through the escort section of the yellow pages, tempted to call someone to his hotel room.\u00a0 When he realized what he was doing, he felt so guilty that he immediately called his wife.\u00a0 To his amazement, she was not only not upset, but she also understood the temptation he was experiencing.\u00a0 They talked about it at length and developed a means to help them deal with temptations together.\u00a0 When he faced those same lures in the future, he was to call her\u2014regardless of what time it was in either of their time zones.\u00a0 They also developed what could be described as a “code word” or phrase that he could say to tell her that he was tempted, thus not requiring any detailed explanation.\u00a0 His greatest help was in knowing his wife supported him so fully.\u00a0 Whether an accountable Christian brother or a spouse with whom the situation has been discussed, there is great benefit in having some plan of defense to call upon when the temptation occurs.\u00a0 If a Christian fighter pilot has access to neither\u2014perhaps he has no family to call upon and is the only Christian on the trip\u2014then the most important thing is to depart on the TDY with the knowledge that the sexual temptation will be there and attempt to prepare himself for it.\u00a0 There are many Christian books wholly devoted to dealing with sexual temptation, and I could do little justice to the topic here (See Resources<\/a> and Links<\/a>).\u00a0 A Christian must rely on God, through prayer and Bible study, and know that God provides him a way to stand up under assault (1 Corinthians 10:13).\u00a0<\/p>\n Christian Routine<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Christian fighter pilot, the unpredictability of a TDY makes it difficult to plan Bible studies, attend chapel service, or even have a personal Bible time.\u00a0 There is rarely a normal schedule or a routine\u2014in general, by the time one is developed, it’s time to leave, thus the “temporary” nature of such a deployment.\u00a0 This is a perfect example of a time when having established spiritual habits will bear fruit (see the articles on Establishing a Spiritual Lifestyle<\/a>.).\u00a0 A spiritual lifestyle will make a Christian fighter pilot miss the absence of his Bible study or fellowship and he will then put the extra effort into accomplishing them.\u00a0 It’s important to attend\u2014or form, if required\u2014some type of Bible study group during deployments.\u00a0 While at a TDY location, a Christian fighter pilot should generally attend the base chapel.\u00a0 He’s generally there for too short a period to become connected to an off-base church; in forward deployed locations, there won’t even be an off-base option.\u00a0 Chapels in forward deployed locations have been some of the best I have attended, even though the chaplains are only temporarily assigned themselves.\u00a0 The chapel is built around the mission of the deployed location, though not always perfectly.\u00a0<\/p>\n When I was TDY at Incirlik in Turkey, the chapel had dedicated chaplains and even a Christian coffee shop that supplied free food, games, and Christian music.\u00a0 Operation NORTHERN WATCH (ONW), though, which Incirlik supported, had been ongoing for years so it was a fairly “routine” deployment; the chapel was able to work around the relatively predictable schedule.\u00a0 Al Udeid airbase had a chapel program that I attended as soon as I arrived in Qatar.\u00a0 It had two Sunday services: \u00a0a contemporary praise and worship service and a gospel service.\u00a0 Before hostilities started I was able to attend regularly; however, as the war approached, I was one of the group chosen to fly night sorties.\u00a0 I took off after sunset and landed before dawn on most days.\u00a0 Once I was established on the “night train” it became virtually impossible to attend what was equivalently the “midnight” chapel time.\u00a0 I came to rely primarily on my own Bible study time.\u00a0 I and several other Christians had a “happenstance” Bible study group.\u00a0 Since the combat sorties were so long, we often woke up, went straight to work, flew, landed, and went straight to bed.\u00a0 When we had the occasional day off it rarely coincided with downtime of the other Christians, but those of us that were available would do a short Bible study when the time presented itself.\u00a0 The best that a Christian fighter pilot can do during such an unpredictable TDY is have a strong personal study and make the effort to do more as the opportunity arises.\u00a0<\/p>\n At some point during the deployment a fighter pilot will have some free time.\u00a0 During some TDYs free time will be so rare that he may be satisfied with simply doing nothing as a change from the constant demands of work.\u00a0 On the opposite extreme, some TDYs are a vacation from the fast-paced life of a home base.\u00a0 Particularly when those types of deployments are anticipated, a Christian fighter pilot should plan things to occupy his time.\u00a0 He could take books to read, an instrument to play, or materials for a class in which he’s interested.\u00a0 Obviously, a Bible is a requirement, and he might also consider Bible reference or study materials.\u00a0 Modern electronics have made some travel requirements easier, and a pilot might consider taking Christian music on an mp3 player or Bible study tools on a PDA or laptop.\u00a0 Most, but not all, Air Force locations will have some form of library that will have books, magazines, videos, and possibly internet connectivity.\u00a0 I think I can safely say that every military location has some form of gym.\u00a0 Regardless, exercise is a good thing to incorporate into a deployed lifestyle; it burns off excess energy and improves health and morale. \u00a0Once at a TDY location, a Christian should fill his “extra” time with these activities, rather than giving in to the temptation to watch hours of television or party constantly.\u00a0 This will give him some mental and physical exercise and prevent cabin fever.\u00a0 The repetitive nature of many TDYs causes some people to relate their lives to Groundhog Day, the movie in which Bill Murray relives the same day over and over. \u00a0The monotonous lifestyle and limited extracurricular activities encourage many to engage in wild (and often unwise) activities to release steam.\u00a0 By having edifying activities in which to participate, a Christian fighter pilot can have something positive to do that will also benefit his overall well-being.\u00a0<\/p>\n Remote Tours<\/strong><\/p>\n Remote tours are, in many respects, similar to TDYs, with the key difference of length. \u00a0(As of 2006, the maximum TDY length in the Air Force is 179 days.\u00a0 It is worth noting, however, that the Army is serving tours of a year or more in Iraq.\u00a0 A few Air Force members have served that length there as well.)\u00a0 Receiving an Air Force remote assignment means being assigned to a base in a far-off location for a year-long tour, most likely separated from family.\u00a0 Pilots in every Air Force fighter aircraft have some form of remote requirement to fill.\u00a0 Virtually every F-16 pilot is supposed to complete a remote tour at some point in their career, though it is not a given.\u00a0 Some may go an entire career and never go remote.\u00a0 Due to the costs associated with remote assignments (many expensively-trained people, including pilots, have separated from the Air Force rather than go remote), the Air Force is in the process of re-evaluating the status of some remote locations.\u00a0 What they ultimately determine (whether some bases close or are turned into normal accompanied assignments) could significantly alter the outlook for fighter pilot remote assignments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Supposedly, most fighter pilots have a requirement for a single remote tour in their career, though many pilots may voluntarily take another, and the needs of the Air Force may dictate that some receive a second.\u00a0 Depending on the availability of assignments, accepting a second remote assignment may be the only way some pilots can stay in the F-16 and avoid an ALO or UPT tour.\u00a0 Some more senior pilots are offered command of a squadron in a remote location.\u00a0 If they turn it down, they probably won’t get another offer of command, and their career progression may grind to a halt.\u00a0 So while the “requirement” is for one tour, to get what they want (more F-16 time, a command) some pilots may volunteer for another.\u00a0<\/p>\n Air Force remote tours are actually rather stable and predictable; pilots are generally fixed in one location and rarely go TDY.\u00a0 Most Air Force members on a remote tour will live in dormitories, the enlisted may not have a car, and all will have the majority of their personal household goods either with their families or in storage in the States.\u00a0 Remotes are often in austere locations or in very foreign surroundings, which limit the amount of activities in which to participate off-base.\u00a0 Feeling trapped on an island of a base, combined with the fact that remotes are so much shorter than regular duty assignments, causes many to view a remote as an extended TDY rather than a permanent assignment.\u00a0 This may lead to a short-term attitude in which people put off problems because they know that if they can delay long enough, their tour will end and it will become someone else’s predicament.\u00a0 With few things to do and a TDY perspective, little excuse is needed to spend much of the available free time either getting drunk or recovering from a hangover.\u00a0 Most pilots aren’t permitted to put off problems, but they definitely participate in the alcoholic atmosphere.\u00a0 Because there are so few activities outside of work, fighter pilot lives tend to revolve around the squadron\u2014either officially, with pilots working long hours and through weekends, or unofficially, as pilots create a myriad of social functions with which to fill their free time.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are several remote tours in Greenland, the Middle East, and Asia (mostly non-flying ones), but the most likely place that a fighter pilot will fill his remote tour is Korea.\u00a0 Kunsan Air Base and Osan Air Base host the two US flying units in Korea.\u00a0 There are also several staff and ALO positions to be filled throughout the peninsula.\u00a0 Since Korea is generally considered a higher threat area (people like to point out that the UN and North Korea are still technically at war), they tend to have base exercises with more frequency and gusto, which detracts from both personal and family time\u2014whether they’re stationed at the same location or not.\u00a0 If a Christian fighter pilot is unable to bring his family on a remote tour, he’s faced with the prospect of being separated from them for the greater part of a year.\u00a0 Depending on the assignment, he will probably get one 30 day leave to go home with them, and he may get one or more opportunities for his family to come and see him for 30 days.\u00a0 This separation can be very challenging for young marriages or families with children.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dealing with Separation<\/strong><\/p>\n With family, a spouse, or a significant other, the separation of a TDY or remote will be a challenge to the relationship. \u00a0While the sexual temptations have already been addressed, communication with family is important for another more subtle reason as well.\u00a0 While pilots are separated from their families they will have reduced interaction with their family and increased contact with the people they see every day.\u00a0 In today’s military, virtually every deployment\u2014including combat\u2014is mixed gender within the officer and enlisted ranks.\u00a0 Besides the sexual implications, it can be tempting to develop an inappropriate emotional relationship with a peer of the opposite gender.\u00a0 If a pilot finds himself befriending someone of the opposite sex and talking to them more than he communicates with his spouse, he is at risk for developing an intimate emotional relationship outside of his marriage.\u00a0 Such an emotional relationship can be just as damaging (and perhaps more so) than an illicit sexual one.\u00a0 The same logic applies to singles that are engaged or simply involved in a serious relationship that they intend to continue.\u00a0 In any case, a Christian who gives the appearance of having a special relationship a friend of the opposite gender while TDY will endanger his witness based on the smallest hint of potential impropriety.\u00a0 The mere appearance of an inappropriate relationship can threaten the stability of a Christian’s marriage.\u00a0 His family relationship should always take precedence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regardless of the reason or the distance of the separation, it is important to have as much communication as possible between those that have gone and those that are left behind.\u00a0 Most Air Force bases have a variety of connection methods even in the harshest environments.\u00a0 While I was in Qatar mail was dependable, a library with email computers was fairly accessible, and military phones were available for us to make morale calls twice a week for 15 minutes.\u00a0 The connection itself was generally good, though often there was a delay on the phone line that had the odd effect of letting you hear your own echo.\u00a0 There was no privacy, though; not only were there airmen parked on phones on either side, it was distinctly possible that the command post or base operator that had connected the call had decided to have a listen as well.\u00a0 There was also the obvious possibility that the calls were monitored for security reasons.\u00a0 Still, the phone calls were better than email and far superior to nothing at all.\u00a0 Some locations now have high speed internet so that military members deployed to even remote locations can communicate with their families via internet video phone, which has the benefit of both audio and visual interaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maintaining a family is one case where I would elevate the relationship over financial concerns.\u00a0 It’s difficult\u2014though not impossible\u2014to grow a relationship over distance; just to maintain it requires immense effort and significant communication.\u00a0 Long phone calls are standard\u2014particularly if one party is upset with the other\u2014and pictures, videos, video phone calls, and emails are essential to keeping a visual connection with home.\u00a0 If a Christian fighter pilot keeps his phone calls short to minimize phone bills and uses the library because he doesn’t want to pay for high speed internet, then I think he risks endangering his family for the sake of a few dollars.\u00a0 Plane tickets will certainly be expensive if official travel isn’t available, but the potential emotional benefit to both the pilot and his family is unquantifiable.\u00a0 It does no good to come back from a remote well-off financially but having damaged or lost a family.\u00a0 There may be some financial sacrifices to make, and the Christian fighter pilot should budget and search for the best financial deals, but ultimately I believe that maintaining the family relationship is more than worth the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n Besides continual communication, commonality helps keep a family connected.\u00a0 One important example would be to have a common Bible study or devotional.\u00a0 This has the advantage of keeping a pilot and his family spiritually oriented together.\u00a0 When I deployed to Qatar, my wife and I did not know how long I’d be gone.\u00a0 To keep our spiritual lives somewhat linked we decided to study through a book of the Bible “together,” reading 10 or so verses every day.\u00a0 I chose Psalms; in retrospect, with its 150 psalms and hundreds of verses, it may not have been the best choice to encourage my wife of my speedy return.\u00a0 Still, by having a connected study, we were able to have our minds on similar Biblical topics.\u00a0 On the occasions we were able to talk or write we were able to communicate our thoughts about the study, knowing that the other had read the same verses recently.\u00a0 If creating such a study isn’t possible, Christian bookstores and online resources have a veritable plethora of pre-fabricated studies (See Links<\/a>).\u00a0 Before my wife got an assignment to my base we were separated for nearly six months.\u00a0 It was easy enough to purchase two copies of a Bible study and have both of us complete the studies throughout the week; we were then able to talk about them on the weekend or email each other the answers to the study questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regardless of the reason, the quality of the separation will be based on the attitudes on both sides of the relationship.\u00a0 Both the person deployed and the family at home must remain committed to the relationship and willing to put the time and effort into maintaining it.\u00a0 Separations are not easy, but if both sides understand its necessity and temporary nature, it will be more bearable.\u00a0 There are many Christian and secular resources on maintaining relationships over distance that have more ideas and cover the difficulties in greater detail. (See Links<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n TDYs can be one of the more enjoyable aspects of a fighter pilot career, though for the Christian they can also be one of the more challenging.\u00a0 Remote assignments offer opportunities to see unique place, though they too can be spiritually taxing.\u00a0 The separation caused by TDYs and remotes, though temporary in nature, can be hard on families.\u00a0 With knowledge, preparation, and active spiritual effort, the Christian fighter pilot can succeed and thrive even in the face of such challenges.<\/p>\n Return to<\/em> God and Country<\/a>. In addition to his demanding daily commitments, a fighter pilot will inevitably be called upon to deploy\u2014meaning he will travel to another destination to accomplish even more responsibilities.\u00a0 These deployments vary in nature and include short-term temporary duties to attend a training class, indefinite commitments to conduct combat operations, and assignment to remote tours that are a year or more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[23,2,11],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fighter-pilot","tag-bible","tag-military","tag-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGo to<\/em> ChristianFighterPilot.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"