My brother is a Navy pilot and his callsign is The Gentleman. He’s currently deployed in Afghanistan far, far away from his home in Maine. This is his current dispatch.

On our trip from the West Coast of the United States to Afghanistan, my squadron made five stops. While flying over the Atlantic at 500 miles an hour (ground speed), each plane had to fuel up in-flight 3-5 times. The photo above shows how we get gas in the air.  We fly up to the basket and put the probe in, pushing it up until the hose gets a bend in it like displayed.  Then the pilot must hold it there for 15-20 mins until full and that’s it! (Editor’s note: Hold still while flying through space at 500 miles an hour?) The photo below shows us flying with the tanker in formation. I am the first one on the close side.