I can almost see the light!

Brad is in the final stretch of his graduate program. Let me start by going back for any of you that aren't sure what exactly he is doing...we moved to NJ for 13 months because Brad was accepted into ASAM which stands for Advanced Studies in Air Mobility. He has been a full time student this year in a class with 15 other guys. Each class has been about 2-4 weeks long and usually ends with a "field trip" to some location that allows them to see the stuff they have been discussing in real life applications. They have been to commercial operations like FedEx/UPS and airlines like JetBlue. They've also toured various ports and all the major command bases in the Air Force.

He will graduate on June 20th with an MS in Air Mobility from the Air Force Institute of Technology. The civilian equivalent to this program is a degree in Supply Chain Management...if you look this up online at any university you'll get a description something like this:
"In today's global economy, making sure that products reach consumers is a full-time job that requires extensive training in supply chain management. Distribution, inventory, transportation, accounting, general management, and problem-solving are just a few of the areas you might cover in a supply chain management program. Other topics might include marketing channels, operations research, procurement and supply chain management, logistics management, and strategic outsourcing. "

His program obviously focuses on the needs of the Air Force but I think he has gained a lot of things that will be transferable in a civilian setting. The final hurdle ahead of him is completing his Graduate Research Project (GRP). Each student had to pick a current problem effecting the Air Force and write a thesis type paper that presents research and data offering a solution to deal with the problem presented. Brad's paper essentially pertains to making changes in flying procedures in order to save the Air Force money in regards to fuel...a pretty timely problem considering the cost of oil these days.

After graduating we'll do a 3 year staff tour at the Pentagon (non-flying job) then odds are we'll return to some type of base where he will have some type of command job with a flying squadron and return to flying. At that point we'll be in the last 5 years of being in the Air Force...assuming we stay in 20 years until retirement (from the AF...which is 20 yrs...he'll start another career at that point). When I break it down and write about it like this it sounds right around the corner...but when I think about the fact that Baileigh will be 15 at that time it seems so far from now!

The rough draft 0f Brad's GRP is due on Friday! While Brad is probably stressed about this fact, I'm extremely excited! He has spent every free hour working on this paper or other projects for class and I know he is looking forward to having a life again! In the past month he has pulled several all-nighters on his paper crunching numbers and compiling data. As annoyed as I am with the entire thing I'm also extremely proud of him and anxious for him to have the stress of this project off his shoulders...and to not have to proof read his papers anymore!

He'll hand in his paper at the end of this week and then we'll head to the DC area for the weekend to hopefully buy a house! And that's not stressful at all!