I finally heard from the boy!

Nicholas finally had a chance to get online today. He said that it has been insanely busy over there and he hasn't had any down time at all. It takes a lot of time to get all the aircraft tweeked to fly in the conditions over there (the air is a different density) so he's been working all day every day getting them ready to fly on top of a few missions and getting to know the area that they are flying before the other unit leaves out. This deployment is very different since he is a Maintenance Test Pilot (MTP), he has a lot more responsibility than what he's had in the past and that's taking a lot more of his time. Once all the aircraft are set up and the other unit is gone things will settle down a lot and his job will get easier. He is doing really good though and said the food there is actually great when he gets the chance to eat and their housing is SO much better than last deployment. He said it makes a world of difference to be able to take a hot shower every night and to have good living conditions. They are still waiting on a couple of parts for their satellite so the internet in their rooms isn't the best yet but it will get better.

All in all things are going really well and he said his hip actually hasn't bothered him nearly as much as he expected. One day it was hurting and he had some issues but other than that it's been ok. I was really glad to hear that.

If you have any questions please let me know!!