Senior Airman Jessica Riha shares her experience on the Air Force's Women's Volleyball Team

I have been at Scott AFB for about four years. In this time I have worked at the Nightingale Inn and the Fitness Center. Being a part of the 375th FSS has unwrapped great opportunities to advance my career and broaden experience’s in the Air Force. My recruiter informed me of the All Air Force program which included the only sport I play competitively, volleyball. Arriving at Scott AFB I quickly researched the process to be considered for the All Air Force Volleyball team. The past two years I was unable to submit a 303 form due to squadron manning. Finally, in 2010 doors opened for me to submit my application. I received notification that I was selected to attend the two week training/tryout camp at Hill AFB in Utah. For a few months I had started to work out more and lift weights. My goal was to add a few pounds in muscle because of the position I play. I am a defensive specialist or in this case I was mostly used as the Libero. This means I play in the back row only. Most liberos are stockier or thick with most of their body mass and muscles lying in the legs, thighs and gluts. This allows the player to have a sturdy base and more accurate passes to the setter. I am a bit gangly for a Libero but less weight also means that I am faster than most defensive specialists. Traveling to Utah I was nervous, though I had been working out I hadn’t played volleyball on a competitive level in about five years. Practices were difficult at first. Most of the girls, including myself, where not used to the high altitude, it was more difficult to breath. Beach volleyball was added to the program this year. We learned the rules and techniques of professional beach volleyball; this was a great learning experience. I had played beach volleyball just for fun, six-on-six, however the rules where new and I had never played two-on-two competitively before. We learned how to evaluate the weather conditions and to use it to our advantage. For example, if it is sunny or raining and you must throw a “free ball” over the net send it extremely high over the net so your opponents have to look into the sun or rain which may result in a bad play or lose sight of the ball. Practice was daily and usually two practices or a combination of practice and scrimmages. Personally I received massive bruising on both of my arms. At one point our personal trainer (Brian) made me sit out for a few practices. Brian was afraid that if I didn’t rest my arms and allow them to heal, the constant pounding on tender bruises would result in calcium build up and out of control swelling. If this happened I would be rushed to the hospital with the only option to correct, cutting my arms open and draining the fluid! My right wrist had sustained massive damage; it swelled double its size. Passing the ball usually didn’t hurt if it was a hard hit and I had taken my Ibuprofen. However, during the second week of training Ibuprofen did not dull the pain. By the time I made it back to Scott AFB the bruising was not noticeable, however, there where bulging in the areas where there had been extensive bruising. Throughout our training at Hill AFB and Cherry Point the team built lasting relationships and great camaraderie. We had worked hard to take the championship from the Navy. All of the armed forces teams played well and hard. The Air Force kept rolling to the top of the competition, even though we lost our first match to the Navy. We had one last chance to take the Gold. On the last day of competition we played the Navy and took them to the max games; 5 games. Both the men’s and women’s AF teams took their matches to 5 games and succeeded in capturing a gold medal! Being a part of the All Air Force Volleyball team allowed me to sharpen my skills, learn how far I could push myself and was a great opportunity to meet other military members.

Interesting site

Happy Friday All,

This is an interesting team doing great work in Afghanistan. Here is the link if you would like to follow: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khost-Province-Afghanistan/PRT-Khost-Afghanistan/316163393331?v=wall.

Have a safe weekend!

First flight in a C-130J

Editor's Note: This is the third and final in a series of three posts by Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore's about his recent trip to Afghanistan. Sergeant Baysmore is a member of the 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Office.

It was the final leg of our trip, and I was excited. We had waited all day for this, and our flight was to Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan. About every 90 seconds, an Air Mobility Command jet is rolling down a runway somewhere around the world – and this time, it would be ours.

This fact was apparent as we stood on the Bagram Air Base flightline. Everywhere you turned, there was an AMC “gray tail” offloading, onloading, taxiing or taking off. Even at one of the busiest hubs in Afghanistan, it was apparent that AMC really does handle over 60 percent of the missions.

We stacked our bags and watched as the cargo team tied them down to an aircraft pallet.

Soon, a Bagram passenger service rep passed back our IDs, which doubled as boarding passes for this flight, and we loaded onto the bus and driven to the flightline.

But this time, something had changed…

Instead of a tanker or C-17, one of AMC’s newest aircraft—the C-130J Hercules stood waiting for us.

The Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., aircrew was going through the finishing stages of their preflight checks when they marshaled us on board.

I had heard about the new C-130 and seen it before, but this flight to Kandahar, which would take little more than an hour, would be my first flight on one.

Even with about 50 pounds of body armor, a helmet and equipment cinched to me, I was still a bit anxious to see how this aircraft performed since I was a frequent flyer on the older four-propeller per engine E and H models.

It was like my fourth test ride in a month—I had test driven a car for my wife and two motorcycles for my possible future commutes prior to this trip, so I had my mental checklist ready.

I asked to see the flightdeck before we had to strap in and was pleasantly surprised. The old-school analog needle and dial systems were gone. In its place, was a newly designed, software-based digital system that would make any commercial pilot, exotic car owner or weekend gamer a little envious—one check for cutting edge technology.

There were digital displays, navigation equipment and other mods that I didn’t have time to take in because the loadmaster gave the signal for me to get back to the troop seats.

I walked back, strapped in, and I heard the drone of the auxiliary power unit shut down and the fuselage vibrate as the engines came to life – one check for a smooth startup.

Since I was back there, I had time to look around the fuselage of the C-130. Hey, there were more improvements here; the cargo capacity has gone up from room for 6 aircraft pallets to 8.

Not to mention the newer engines were turning outside, powering the redesigned system that went from four to six propellers – another check for power upgrades.

We had our safety briefing, and we taxied out to the runway.

Here’s where the difference was made for me, the older “Hercs” had a characteristic where you felt every bump, jolt, pebble, or surface imperfection on the way to takeoff. But this new Herc was smoother and quieter – one check for all around coolness.

Right when I was ready to bookmark the section on power, I felt the brakes engage and we took a slow turn onto the runway. After a momentary stop, the pilot throttled up and the Herc surged with power, bared down and raced to take-off speed. I thought I even heard a subconscious National Hot Rod Association top-fuel dragster tire-screeching burnout as our Herc gathered speed and leaped into the air.

Yeah, bookmark and underscore the section on torque—it really moves; quick.

After what seemed a short flight, we were on our final approach and soon landed in Kandahar.

We were briefed by a passenger service rep and marshaled from the flightline to the terminal—we were finally here. I was thrilled with our flight, and impressed with the new airframe.

Layover moments, Bagram Air Base journey begins

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of three posts by Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore's about his recent trip to Afghanistan. Sergeant Baysmore is a member of the 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Office.

We had an extended layover at Ramstein AB, Germany, and we got to see a lot of the local attractions and sample our share of schnitzel and bratwurst.

During our stay, we also ran into a mix of people while sipping coffee in the hotel lobby.

One morning as I was enjoying my first sip, there was a small commotion going on at the front counter. A young traveler was lamenting about a break in last night. I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation because she became more and more animated as she told her story.

She began her complaint by talking to the staff about the loud talking tourists in the hallway until she said something else happened—someone had broken into her and her husband’s room while they were sleeping.

She reiterated that someone had come in, used the restroom and continued into the suite. The intruder then, sat on the bed and talked to her for about 15 minutes, in slurred German, until he politely excused himself to use the restroom again.

I was all ears by then…

Next, she said, the gentleman returned, sat down on the bed, held her husband’s hand and started talking with the couple again.

After about 15 more minutes, she said, he got up, bid them goodnight and in English, said, “Hey, is this my jacket?” and tried to make off with the husband’s jacket.

The staff was appalled and asked if she would like to lodge a complaint with the police or were there any signs of forced entry…The young lady replied calmly, “No, we forgot to lock the door.”

In short, I bolted from the lobby trying to stifle my laughter… My attempts were futile, and I doubled over right outside the main entrance.

Later, we got the news that our flight from Ramstein to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, was coming up, and we had to get to the terminal—and quick.

We made the showtime and boarded the March Air Reserve Base, Calif., based C-17 Globemaster III – an aircraft with about enough interior room to allow any NFL quarterback and receivers ample space to go through limited pre-game warmups.

Although we didn’t see any of that going on, we were directed to the seats along the sides of the C-17’s fuselage. There was so much cargo in the main body of the aircraft that we couldn’t clearly see the Aeromedical Evacuation team on the other side. There were various cargo pallets stacked neatly inside; row after row.

As we were seated, the loadmaster quipped with both hands raised, palms skyward, “Behold, over 100,000 pounds of cargo.”

We all shared in the laugh, and knew this would be another great flight.

The journalists took turns viewing the flight deck, and I found somewhere to stretch out next to bundles in the cargo bay.

Several hours later, we touched down at Bagram ready to begin the second leg of our journey.

Off to Afghanistan, again

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of three posts by Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore's about his recent trip to Afghanistan. Sergeant Baysmore is a member of the 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs Office.

I got deployment orders to Afghanistan, and this time I was bringing journalists with me.

Our team met up in Washington D.C., and soon left for Joint Base Andrews, Md.

I was mainly there to provide background information and assist in travel plans from the United States, to Germany and then Afghanistan.

As a recent member of the 375th Air Mobility Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Il, and Air Mobility Command, this trip would also help shorten my learning curve from sleek, pointy Air Force fighters and Air Force Global Strike Command bombers to AMC’s heavy haulers.

Our first trek was from Andrews AFB on a KC-135 Stratotanker with an Aeromedical Evacuation team from Ramstein AB, Germany. The team was a little tired but fun to fly with, they were returning from moving patients from Europe to Walter Reed Medical Center. AE teams like this one have evacuated more than 147,000 patients from the battlefield to higher levels of care since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As most AF people know, mobility aircraft aren’t built for passenger comfort, and this New Hampshire Air National Guard tanker was no exception. The KC-135 is capable of moving passengers—“pax” for short—and cargo. But its main mission is aerial refueling, KC-135s and its sister tanker, the KC-10 Extender, have delivered more than 11.63 billion pounds of fuel—enough to fill about 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools since Sept. 11, 2001.

As most seasoned pax know, you should bring a heavy blanket and or sleeping bag for the flight—we already checked that box.

People say experience is the best teacher, so let me fill you in: unless you’re acclimating yourself for the next winter Olympics, bring the blanket, sleeping bag and wear a skull cap for the flight.

This leg from Andrews AFB to Ramstein went by rather quickly because tankers are known to be among the fastest—yet coldest—of the AF heavy haulers.

I must also admit that traveling with an AE team was great; they had enough mattress pads to share, which helped turn this flight to one of the best ones I’ve had recently.

Once the loadmaster cleared us to do so, we stretched out on the floor, bundled up, and slept as our pax flight hours racked up.

As we landed and walked along the Ramstein flightline to the terminal, the journalists got to see the other AMC aircraft along the ramp. Several C-5s, C-17s and our recently landed tanker lined the ramp.

We looked around before climbing the stairs into the terminal and shared the same sentiment: AMC....Ain't Mobility Cool?