Being a fighter pilot in the Air Force is a glamorous job. It’s also a very tough and demanding one. Besides being in tip top physical and mental condition 24/7 you also have to keep your flying skills honed and sharp. I’m a fighter pilot and I love flying and everything associated with it, with just one exception. That’s the long hours we often have to spend on standby – being ready to take off at a moment’s notice to take care of any threat. Of course in peace time there are no threats like this, but we always have to keep practicing so we are always ready if we are needed.  Being on standby means sitting around the ready room for hours on end, until our duty hours are over. There’s nothing to do except shoot the breeze, read, watch TV or, if you’re like me, listen to music. The only way you can do that is by using an new ipod. Using a music system won’t work because the sound will disturb the other pilots. I can’t even begin to figure out how many hours I’ve spent sitting around ready to fly with my new ipod for company. And then one day I spilled a cup of coffee on it! I cleaned it up as fast and as well as I could, but, as I was expecting, it wouldn’t play. When this happened we were on a training program in the middle of nowhere so I couldn’t even go into town to buy a new one. I was reconciling myself to doing without my music until I got back to civilization. Luckily a buddy told me about new ipod repair websites and I went to a computer and searched online for them. I found a lot of companies that do new ipod repair. We had a courier service at the base and I was able send the new ipod to an new ipod repair company that I had researched about. I couldn’t believe it when it came back in a very short time working perfectly and looking like new. And this was done at a cost far less than the price of a new new ipod. I’m more careful now and have bought myself a spare new ipod. But the biggest comfort is that if I do damage one is that while I use the spare, I can send the first one to get it fixed. Oh yeah. I do have one more regret – I can’t take my new ipod up in my fighter. It’s against regulations!