Here is the sign for the Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. Trolley Square Mall is a very unique mall, Sitting in the Downtown Area, and made up of inter-connected old, refurbished buildings from an earlier age. It is also the site of a tragic shooting that occurred last year, when an active shooter entered the Mall and started taking shots. He was eventually taken down by an off-duty Ogden Police Officer.

Trolley Square Mall is also the site of the Hard Rock Cafe in Salt Lake City. Steve Terry (the guy that was with me from the Tri-Cities Regional Airport Dept. of Public Safety) and I ate there one night. The food was excellent, and the memorabillia collection was awesome. I have a 'thing' for the Hard Rock Cafe, and try to visit every one that I get a chance to. I'd love to go to the 'Original' Hard Rock in London. Someday, I'd like to take Rusti to Salt Lake City. It is such a city of contrasts. A very, very unusual place.

The other pic that I'm gonna post is another from our Night Burn at A.A.R.F. School. I am approximately the second from the right. What a cold night....

Hey everybody. Here is a pic of me on the ramp at Salt Lake City International Airport. The mountains out there were absolutely gorgeous. They were snow capped, and appeared to be devoid of any vegetation. A lot different from our mountains here in East Tennessee.

A.R.F.F. School is done and over with, and now comes the challenge of getting really proficient with it. The basic school taught me some valuable skills, but it also taught me how much I still have to learn. Maybe at some point, I can get the advanced school.

At the SLC school, they use Oshkosh Striker apparatus. Thanks to my Lt., I got plenty of wheel time in our E-One Titans, prior to going there. I will definitely have to say that I like our E-One's alot better than the Oshkosh rigs. The only thing that the Oshkosh rigs have going for them, is that they hold twice the fire-fighting agents. The controls on the E-One's are better laid out and a lot more user friendly.

A.A.R.F. is a federal certification (in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration). My Lt. pointed out the other night that hardly anyone in this area has the certification. It makes for good job security, I guess.

The other pic that I'm gonna post is a group shot from A.A.R.F. School on the night of our night burn. I am in the top left of the photo. It was really, really cold the night that the pic was taken. Anyway, I guess I'll post more later.....

I just got back yesterday from Salt Lake City,

Utah. I had to go out there for my ARFF (Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting) Training. What an exhaustive week! I will go into more details later, however, I wanted to publish (what I consider) my best two pictures from out there.

The first is just a pic of one of the mountain ranges on a cold, snowy, overcast day.

It stayed consistently windy out there, and the temperature fluctuated wildly. As luck would have it, on Wednesday, when we had to do our night training, it snowed, and the temperature was low, and the wind was extremely high. Awful conditions for Aircraft fire fighting.

Anyway, the first pic is just of the mountains. The other picture is of the ATCT (Air Traffic Control Tower) at Salt Lake City International Airport. I think that both pics came out very nice. I'll post more later of my experiences out there.

Who would've ever thought that I'd be a Fireman? Weird.

I'm off today, and just wanted to post a couple of pics that I got last night at work. We had two F-16's from Lackland AFB, Texas on the ramp. They were used as the fly-over birds to open the Martinsville Nascar Race on Sunday afternoon. Their Squadron is evidently named the "Lone Star Gunslingers". Apparently one of the pilots had family in the Blountville area, so they remained over-night at the Tri.

I couldn't believe the drop tank on this bird. Dale Earnhart. What a trip.

It brought back a lot of memories from my days at Incirlik, Air Base, Turkey, when I was younger. We were the forward operating base for the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Torrejon Air Base, Spain. The 401st operated F-16's, so we had them on the base constantly.

Anyway, all is still going well at the Tri. I'm loving my new job, but I feel bad for the good guys left at the Sheriff's Department, under that 'management team'. Some of the guys there have evidently embraced the 'dark side', and I hope they get all that they wished for.

More later.

Just a short post. We carry Sig-Sauer P229's at the Tri. Nothing but the best, right? I have to go back to work again on Friday Night. I still have trouble believing that Day Shifts don't even figure into the equation. After working years of the 'Eastman' schedule, it just seems so unreal!

My flight itenerary has been confirmed, and I leave April 15th to go to Salt Lake City, Utah for ARFF (Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting) training. My flight leaves the TRI and connects through Atlanta-Hartsfield, so it should be interesting.

More later.

Just posting a few more images from the Tri. This is Kevin Harvick's Lear Jet that was parked on the ramp the other night. Lots of General Aviation Aircraft for the Nascar race. Couple shots of Engine 3, and a shot of one of the Police Vehicles. More later.

Just wanted to post a quick update. I am off today, thru the week-end. I had kind of an odd, flash-back thought the other day. I had finished up my shifts and had a few days off, when I thought 'I gotta go back on day-shifts, when I go back to work'. Then I quickly realized that, no, I go back to nights again. What a great feeling! Working a straight shift is sooo nice. Especially when the straight shift is night-shift!


I am really loving my new job. I work with a great bunch of guys, and the job, itself, is very interesting. It is a lot different from what I left. The ARFF (Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting) part of the job is bringing new challenges, and presents a lot to learn. The Fire Apparatus that we have are amazing, in thier technology and capabilities. My Lieutenant let me drive Engine One (pictured) quite a bit the other night to get used to it. I even backed it into the bay at the end, and amazed myself...lol. It is about 13' tall and has a 685 horsepower turbo-diesel engine. It cost nearly one million dollars, making it clearly the biggest, most powerful, most expensive vehicle that I have ever driven. The tires on it are nearly as tall as I am.

I am getting more used to the layout of the runways, taxi-ways, and intersections on the airfield. We do two nightly inspections of the entire airfield. One is a lighting isnpection, and the other is an inspection for Foreign Objects & Debris (FOD). The lighting inspection is done while the Air Traffic Control Tower is still active and air traffic is still inbound. You have to radio the tower to get clearence, just as aircraft do. It's pretty cool.

I also wish to thank my loving wife for making my transition soo seamless. Without her support, love and encouragement, my change of jobs would not have been nearly so easy. Rusti, sweetie, you are my world!

Anyway, I am rambling now. Suffice it to say, the job is very, very cool. Hope all is well with everyone.

I just got off of my first 12 hour shift at the Airport. Today I worked 12:00 - Midnight, which I will be working again tommorrow. Although a strange set of hours, it was pretty interesting and not near as bad as I thought it would be. I will be going to 'my' shift, which is Shift 3, on Friday night. My call sign will be '303'. I got to meet my new lieutenant tonight, as he came on at 18:00 (6:00 P.M.). He seems like a really great guy, and I liked him instantly. The more that I got to talk to him, the more I liked him. I am excited about my new shift, and I think everything is going to work out really well.

On a sad note, however, over the past week-end, my old shift at the Carter County Sheriff Dept., had to cover a three day week-end, Friday, Saturday, & Sunday (on the day shift), with 2 Deputies on the road. Think about that for a minute. 2 Deputies to cover a County the size of Carter County. Unbelievable. That's really great planning on the part of the new 'Management Team'. I wonder if the Citizens of Carter County have any idea, whatsoever, on what is going on at that Department. Not only is it unsafe for the Citizens, it is unsafe for the TWO Deputies on duty!

Maybe one of these days the truth will emerge. More later.

Today is Saturday, March 10, 2007. I had a busy week, starting the new job, and all. I had all the usual administrative tasks to complete, (W-2, Insurance, etc.), plus I had to learn as much about the Airport as I could. They usually keep 'new guys' in training for 2 weeks, but I got cut loose after one. I worked Monday through Friday on day shift. There is definitely alot of new stuff for me to learn. Taxi-way and Runway designations for one thing. Being part of a Public Safety Dept., I have to get up to speed on all of the fire stuff. They call it ARFF (Airport Rescue & Fire Fighting). The Fire Apparatus at the Airport is truly impresive. The cockpit looks like the cockpit of the Space Shuttle to me, with all of the various controls, switches and buttons.

They are sending me to ARFF school in Salt Lake City, Utah next month. I am definitely looking forward to it, as it will be a new experience, along with the fact that I have never been to that part of the country. I also get to fly out there, which I am looking forward to. (I love to fly).

Everyone at the Department has been so nice to me this week. It really seems like a great bunch of guys. Chief Barron is a trip, and really fun to be around. Lt. Wiley and Lt. Barnsworth have been very helpful on my first week. PSO's Sells, Greenway, & Harrell (Scooby) have been great to work with. Sgt. R. Stout (who is another Carter Countian), has been most gracious. I really feel like this is gonna be a great job, and great Department to be a part of.

I love aircraft, as I have mentioned before. This week I got to board (and check out the cockpits) of an ATR, a DeHavilland Dash-8, as well as a Delta Connection Regional Jet Embracer. It was really cool. I also got to talk with some of the flight crews. I also got to check out some general aviation aircraft, including a Cirrus (which was really nice), a Rockwell Commander, several Pipers, including Barrons & King Airs, and got to watch an old Rockwell Sabreliner power up, taxi & take off.

Overall, it was a very interesting week. I am working a kinda weird shift Monday & Tuesday, 12:00 noon till 12:oo midnight. After that, I start on 'my shift', which is Shift 3, on night shift Friday night. I am sure that I have left a bunch of stuff out, but I wanted to get something posted here, about my first week. More later.

Here's a pic of my old buddy (and former sargeant) T. Lowe in his new Honda S2000. Very nice car. T. came over yesterday, and he drove me the back way to the Airport. I had been that way once before, but I couldn't remember the exact route. Anyway, I think it's a little closer than going through Johnson City. I sure am going to miss working with T. We were partners in the Carter Co. Jail, years ago, when only 2 jailors were on duty at any given time. These last couple of years, when I have been on shift 2, were the first time that we have gotten to work directly together, since we were in the jail.

Anyway, just wanted to post the pic. More later.