1 July 01 - Its Tuesday, this must be Birmingham..

I arrive at the airport to find a huge line waiting at curb check-in for Southwest airlines, which is not good because the flight leaves in 40 minutes.

Finally the baggage is checked in, all except my laptop and the camera as I don't feel comfortable with the electronics going in a soft case.

15 minutes till boarding time when, low and behold, the power goes out at the airport! This of course turns off the metal detectors, meaning no one can go through to get on the planes. People start freaking out, and soon a police officer shows up to tell us that there is another security checkpoint at a different end of the airport. Everybody charges over there to get through (I arrive at the gate wearing my belt around my neck).

I wait in the new line of the latecomers to get boarding tickets and go directly onto the plane. I say the last goodbyes to my wife and down the ramp I go. Only to find the flight attendant telling people that there is no room for carry-ons, and that I will have to check in the camera. Ugh.

No choice, so I tell them it holds very expensive equipment, and because I do so in a not threatening manner (unlike the furious other people who don't want to check anything in), they're nice about it. The flight attendant walks the camera equipment down and hands it to the baggage loader personally. Whew.

After an hour layover in Las Vegas, I get to Birmingham, AL. Guess what doesn't get there? You got it: my luggage.

The camera equipment did make it, however, since it was manually loaded on the plane. Seems the power outage stopped the luggage from going on the conveyors and making it to the plane in time for departure.

So I fill out my missing luggage form and head off to COS to arrive just in time to film some volleyball, then I go to sleep.

Scott

2 July 01 - Phew..Get some Right Guard...

Today my luggage arrives and I get situated.

It is hot and muggy. I filmed a class in a practical application of leadership involving an actual Gulf War scenario, and then some footage from a CAP command structure class. There are 105 cadets here, and I met a friend from my basic flight at National Blue Beret, that was cool.

I was also shown a little video in the base theater/auditorium of a night flight filmed by Darin Ninness, niiiiiiiiiiiiice. (I did not pay him to say that! -DN)

It's neat to see the Air Force personnel working directly along side CAP in training the cadet officers of the nation.

Scott

7 July 01 - I'm going WHERE..?

I'm leaving momentarily for AETCFC.

COS was a cool activity that I would highly recommend for officers around the country. It's a great way to get 1000's of dollars worth of direct leadership knowledge and expertise for so much less. The cadets I've interviewed had a variety of interests and goals, and felt that COS will greatly help their CAP and life careers.

I've had my first trial with all the new equipment, and I've got to say it's HEAVY!!! The camera and Glidecam total about 14lbs, and I've got to lug around additional lenses, and batteries. I've rigged up an army LBV to help carry the stuff. I'll try to get a pic to post ;-).

Despite sudden rainstorms, and the hot weather, I enjoyed the stay.

Well, gotta get the luggage out. Hopefully they won't lose it this time.

Scott

9 July 01 - Its so hot, I saw one of them guys burst into flames...

Well, the saga continues. Delta overbooked my flight and I had to be sent over to Northwest Airlines. So they pulled out my luggage (and I have a lot of it) and I did my best get it over all by myself.

I had no way to contact the guys at AETCFC to let them know, and I arrived an hour late. For 3 hours I tried all my contacts trying to find a way to get in touch, and eventually got the number of where the activity is being held. Soon my pickup arrived, and I was off.

The first night they just got situated, and the next day the festivities began with a video of last years class, and an intro to the course.

Again, another amazing activity. The class goes through a condensed version of the courses that the real Air Force aviation candidates go through, taught directly by previous Instructor Pilots of the T-37 and T-38 training aircraft.

At some point they will attend a class with the aviation candidates and answer questions along side of them, as well as experience the training simulators and an air show to boot. In the end they will know minute technical details of the planes and their characteristics, as well as participate in team building and leadership challenges. It seems to be a great head start on the way to flying with the Air Force.

It's still too hot for my liking, my lenses fog up every time I step out side.

Scott

10 July 01 - Wow, airport seats are really comfortable...

Well, here we go again.

I arrive at the airport with nobody here to pick me up. This is getting to be routine.

I have just spoken to an airport agent (I'm at ABE, Allentown, in PA), and he says Hawk Mountain is approximately an hour away, and is experiencing storms, so that's the most likely cause for the delay.

I don't have their number and they don't have mine (woops!). [This is the classic example of "proper prior planning preventing poor performance." That's not, however, what you tell Scott at the airport at midnight. I think he can chalk this one up as "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -DN]

It's 2223 and I arrived at 2100. The airport agent says I'm more than welcome to spend the night.

Yay.

Scott

12 July 01 - Is that a *real* mountain..?

Thanks to the glorious CadetStuff staff [Hey, we try. -DN], after an email, an evening of detailed learning in the nuances of the Lehigh Valley Airport, and a visit to the local Denny's with the coolest baggage claim area supervisor Tom (can't remember last name), I finally got a phone number and arranged my pickup again that morning. The mix-up was resolved, and a van arrived promptly.

Quickly, I was on my way to film a days worth of the Hawk mountain area and the cadets marching off to their respective destinations (depending on their year). Some went out to the field to setup for the night, some went out to the local fire training location to practice rappelling alone, tandem, with casualties, etc.

The views, and scenery are quite nice here (being a California boy). And I was even given a cot next to as many electrical outlets as possible!

I've been well taken care of, and the staff has been most supportive of carting me around to the different training locations. I must say, the training here is very in depth. The views from Hawk mountain are great.

Scott

13 July 01 - OK, enough with the fun & games... LET ME DOWN!

Today I went back to the mountain, and filmed some more rope work. This time I was rigged up and went down about half way to get some point of view shots, fun! Tonight I will do laundry in preparation for leaving to the Powered Flight Academy in Virginia tomorrow evening. Fun, fun! [We're not sure what Scott considers to be fun, but we're sure his wife will be happy to hear about his joy of laundry. -DN]

The cadets here certainly get to put their physical and mental abilities to the test. They carry full gear, and are taught exactly what to do with it. There are different levels of certification and it gives cadets a chance to work on staff as well as the seniors.

There are also senior training courses as well. I've been cordially invited to return for one... Maybe... ;-).

Scott

16 July 01 - Can I get HBO on this flight information monitor?...

I'm writing from the computer in the facility used here at the Virginia based National Flight Academy. Due to another mixup in dates, I spent another night at the airport. I've decided that as interesting as they are, I don't want to do that anymore so I've made arrangements with a contact at national to get all the updated phone numbers before I to each one.

After I got through to the folks here, they promptly picked me up in a Cessna, and I was on my way to the middle of nowhere aka Blackstone, VA. CAP pretty much runs the show here in terms of the airport, providing tower staff even. The cadets that get to come are lucky, as the instructors are a lot of fun, and really geared towards getting the cadets to solo.

The footage I'm getting should turn out pretty nice, and will add a large portion of the lure of CAP to those interested in flying. This is definitely the place for that.

I will be here until Wednesday, and then I'm off to Oregon for the Glider version of the Flight Academy. From one end of the country to the other. That one will be my longest flight yet, and I've finished "Blackhawk Down" (graciously given to me by my partner Brian) after two flights, so now I've got to get another book to read. (I'm anxiously awaiting the film now!)

Gotta go, as Blackstone is so far out in the sticks that I can only access the pay-per-minute AOL 1-800 number.

Enjoy,

Scott

18 July 01 - Feather #8, Mr. Hughes!...

The Glider Academy proved to be the second activity to pick me up as scheduled (second to COS)! So after my luggage arrived I was off to the National Guard armory that they were staying at. There was a cot waiting for me and I set up my gear, and promptly went to sleep. Whew!

The next day I was the first to go up in a glider and my instructor turned out to be a pilot of two of the three glider flights I've ever had 5 years ago in Los Alamitos, CA. That was cool. I got some great footage flying around, and filming him instructing from the rear seat. Soon two other gliders would be towed up and I got some awesome footage of them from the high vantage point. I continued to film the ground work when we landed, and some academics back at the armory.

The next day a news crew arrived for some live shots for an early morning wake up show. I got to hang out with the camera crew and they all wanted to play with the Canon Xl-1 I'm using to shoot these videos. They even set it up and connected it to their news van to try some live feed through it. It was a lot of fun to see how they operated. The reporter even wanted to try it out, and decided he had to have one. The camera guy liked it a lot, but had already set his heart on a $11,000 Broadcast DVCAM (he wins).

The next day was a fun day, and the cadets were taken to see the new home of the Spruce Goose. I'd had plenty of opportunities to see it when it was in Southern California, next to the Queen Mary, but never got the chance. Impressive is an understatement, that thing is HUGE. I just wish they could spin up the eight 3000 horsepower a piece engines. Its not completely re-assembled yet, just a couple more feet off of each wing tip, and the empennage. It was housed in an equally neat building, where it dwarfed the other vintage planes around it.

The glider academy is certainly the place to go to enjoy the flight experience itself. "Soaring," as the gilder enthusiasts call it, is a lot of fun, and flying silently through the sky, looking down as a bird does, is a great experience. The goal is to have 20 such flights lasting an average of 30-45min.

If only they had some slots for seniors!

Scott

24 July 01 - What's that smell? Scott Matthews with no luggage!

I left Oregon at 8pm on the 22nd, and arrived in Wisconsin at 9am the next day, after 2 connecting flights. (And boy, are his arms tired... -Ed) We had to make two passes, as the air traffic was so thick at Whitman field in Oshkosh you could nearly walk from plane to plane on final.

Well, this time I was 0 for 2. No luggage, and no pickup. Of course I had made sure to walk the camera up to the plane before it was checked, but nothing else made it here to OSH. Ouch.

I've been here twice before so I knew the layout. I filled out my missing baggage report, and hopped the airfield shuttle to the Blue Beret compound to check in. My luggage was supposed to be on the next flight in, but of course, it wasn't. I wound up walking to the nearby WalMart for essentials until my luggage shows up.

Today I checked again for my luggage, and one of the two bags has arrived, of course it's the one that doesn't have the clothes I need. The rest is supposed to arrive tonight.

Since I'm here to shoot video, I had to get cracking. This is a massive airshow. Planes everywhere. It's always glorious to see 12 P-51's in a row, and the countless other warbirds and assorted planes that find their way here. There's never a dull moment as just a moment ago an F-15 flew by and then a couple passes by an attack helicopter. Once my gear arrives I'll be able to go out and film the cadets taxiing the aircraft on the flight line, and tag along on some ELT searches.

LIVE UPDATE I was just told that there was a plane crash and the pilot was killed, though they don't know what type of plane it was... Well, I'll continue this later... the plane is at the farthest end of one of the runways, but I'll try to get some information. Turns out it was a homebuilt experimental.

I plan to get as much footage of cadets in action here as possible, The cadets have already gone through their training, but this is one giant show, so setting up some key shots shouldn't be too hard. I'll also go and film the EAA museum that the cadets get to tour.

Scott

29 July 01 - I Love The Smell of the Night Air in the Morning...

I left Blue Beret on the 27th for the all-encompassing National Emergency Services Academy. I was picked up, luggage and all, and off to Camp Atterbury we go. [Finally the guy gets a ride in the same vehicle with his luggage. The CadetStuff staff had discussed taking out a rather large life insurance policy on this guy, as anybody with luck that bad is a sure payoff. -DN] I had my head out of the window driving in the night air enjoying every second of it, and rightfully so as in the morning I found myself not so cool.

Chow was the first order of the day, then we're off to the activity HQ meeting the people that I would film and be driven around the activity by. Once again I met someone I worked with at one of my Blue Beret trips, and he has made sure I'll be at the right place at the right time to get as much footage as I can during my 2.5 days of filming here.

I discovered I have hardly allotted enough time here at Camp Atterbury, as this activity is really 4 activities in one! Cadets in both the basic and advance ground team schools, as well as the Mission Base Staff and Air Crew schools learn every aspect of the ES mission right alongside seniors going through the same courses. The standardized training promotes the interlocked aspects of each area of mission staffing with the new Incident Command structure.

I arrived just in time to film the first Basic course's graduation but missed the Air Crew portion. Today I was able to film a Blood-borne Pathogen scenario, some land navigation, and shelter building for the ground teams, and a little of the Mission Base Staff school. The students of the ground school graduate and earn the ground team badge, and for those of the advanced course, the ground team leader badge.

Tomorrow I will film some more, and then I'm off to the revered PJOC!

Scott

02 August 01 - Movin' with a purpose...

My luck seems to be picking up as I was again met at the airport, and my baggage was there too.

Another night of glorious cold wind in the face as we drove from the Dulles Airport in Virginia to a hotel near the George Washington Forrest. In the morning I arrived just in time to film some morning PT. It ran the gamut and ended with some singing... The instructors (including the legendary MSGT Miller this year) are hard core in everything they say and do. The cadets "move with a purpose" the entire time. MRE's are their only sustenance. After breakfast it was a land navigation course straight into the Forest (which is quite filled with trees, and BUGS, LOTS OF THEM-they seem to look at you as a taxi). After that was a series of courses on shelters, fire-building and the like.

The next day included a 4 mile hike (mostly uphill and full of rocks) with full gear (a weighted rescue litter for each team) to the rappelling site. You can't really see the ledge you rappel too so it is a very intimidating course if you've never rappelled before. There were a fair share of individuals who changed their minds once reaching the edge, but they were eventually "coaxed" into completing the course. I was able to get some great shots of this as I crawled out on my stomach on an adjacent ledge for a profile shot.

Two Air Force Reserve NCO's made great breakfests each morning for the staff, and I was lucky enough to eat with them, vs. MRE's. I was supplied with a tent, and a GI sleeping bag for my stay there.

The following day proved to be the highlight of the filming process, the feared PT Test, live helicopter vectoring (smoke grenades and all) a 4mi run, and a river crossing proved to be some great shots for my stay at the activity.

At least 5lbs lighter, I'm off to AFSCFC

Scott

05 August 01 - I'll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon...

After a couple hours of Minny Mouse bouncing around in the seat in front of me, I arrived in Orlando Florida. And so did my luggage. However this time, I knew ahead of time that there would be no pick-up, I would have to get a shuttle, as it was late, and the hotel for the activity was an hour away. I loaded my gear into a shuttle and I was off to Satellite Beach Florida, right next to Patrick AFB. Once I arrived I would find that they had deleted my reservation, which I quickly resolved, and then it was time to sleep.

In the morning I met with the activity staff, and we were off to Patrick for breakfast. After that it was over to Cape Canaveral to see a briefing by a NASA Instructor. He talked about the Space Shuttle, and a lot of the physics and facts about it's existence. From there we went to the shuttle maintenance bay, and stood directly under the orbiter Discovery as it was being prepped for an upcoming launch, we could read the serial numbers on the heat resistant tiles that lined the bottom. It was a great experience.

After that we went to the Vertical Assembly Building where the shuttles are attached to the Solid Rocket Boosters, and the fuel tank. It is indeed a vertical building. Up until a recent skyscraper, it was the highest point in Florida and capable of housing three prepped shuttles at a time. From there we were off to the parachute packing facility where the Solid Rocket Booster parachutes are prepped and packed. We toured the facility, and were shown a video of the process.

That evening we went to a local planetarium/museum and got to see a pretty amazing show inside. I've been to a bunch of planetarium's but this was the most hi-tech I've seen. The night ended with a laser light show in the planetarium set to Pink Floyd...

The next day was the graduation, but before that was a beach party and picnic. It was a shame that I could only arrive on the last day of activities, they seemed to have quite a full load, and I had missed most of the Air Force parts of the trip, but for one day's activity that wasn't bad, I can only imagine how cool the rest of it was.

Now I'm off to my favorite place, HOME!

Scott