10000 hours, a might milestone.....

This morning Keryn and I visited RAAF Base Richmond to present a very special quilt. 

We were met at the front gate and signed in before being taken to the Officier's mess for a quick cuppa before being taken to the briefing room at 37 Squadron.  

Before the briefing proper got underway the Warant Officer was called to the front and I was able to present him with the quilt that had been made for him by Lynn and quilted by Keryn.

Whist on deployment with Operation Accordion this RAAF Warrant Officer (WOFF) achieved the remarkable milestone of 10,000 flying hours.   I learned of this through the marvels of Facebook (as you do) and decided that as he had not requested a quilt whilst away we would make one for him in recognition of his achievement.  

In an amazing career spanning 34 years and multiple deployments across the world this WOFF passed the major landmark in the skies over Iraq on December 17, 2015.

His main role with the Hercules detachment was to support Operation ACCORDION and other Joint Task Force 633-commanded operations, Operation HIGH ROAD in Afghanistan and Operation OKRA in Iraq.

Beginning his career with the Air Force as an airframe fitter working on F-111C strike aircraft, Chinook helicopters and Hercules tactical transport aircraft he later became a C-130 flight engineer in 1990 before retraining as a C-130 loadmaster in 2013 when the role of the flight engineer role became redundant.

His first major deployment was in 2002 when he was the operations officer with Number 37 Squadron in Kurdistan for 14 weeks in the early days of Operation Slipper.

He has recently completed his fifth operational deployment with the Hercules to the Middle East. Previous deployments include Somalia and Timor Leste.  He has also been involved in numerous search and rescue and aero medical evacuations, humanitarian and disaster relief missions including Operation Philippines Assist to provide support following the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan.

In the article on Facebook the WOFF paid tribute to his wife and children, saying they had put up with him coming and going at all hours of the day and night for the last 25 years.  Their support had made it possible for him to achieve what he had. 

NOTE - I have a policy of not naming serving members on the blog and in truth, with stories like this one, you could probably find out the info quite easily but that is no reason for me to change the way we do things so I won't be naming this fellow either. 

Till next time................keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree xx