the "norm"

I get questions all the time about what Patrick does--my response is, "fly C-17 planes".  Hahah....but in all actuality he does so much more than I can ever understand, let alone describe correctly!  So--I thought I'd show you all and describe to those who are interested what a typical air drop training mission is for Patrick(with a little help from him of course!)  

The pictures and videos below show a practice air drop done a few weeks ago at Fort Lewis. This practice mission was to re-supply a forward operating base in a hostile environment.  The first video shows a platform being pulled out of Patrick's plane with a 15 foot extraction shoot. Patrick tells me that once the platform is out of the plane, it opens up and the main parachutes open.  In the video below, the main parachutes are holding 7,000 pounds of cargo--particularly 500 pounds of fuel and a container of field generators. 

The second video below shows Patrick dropping 45 Army rangers.  

It's crazy to me that this is just the "norm" for Patrick.  It's not everyday that you get to go to work and practice flying to drop several pounds of cargo down below.  He loves what he does though and I have always admired his passion and drive.  Plus--I have to admit, I think it's kinda cool. Whenever I see his plane flying around it's kinda neat to brag and say, "yep..that's my husband flyin' up there."