Buying V-22 Ospreys

My first job after college was as a (civilian) Contract Specialist for Naval Air Systems Command. The job was negotiating contracts to purchase major weapons systems for the US Navy & Marines. It’s one of those jobs that always sounded way cooler than it actually was, which was really mostly bureaucratic spreadsheets & paperwork.

(Paperwork is very literal — this was before the internet, and although we used computers, I spent many, many hours deep into giant binders of paper contracts. I also used to read the newspaper a lot during work 🤣)

That said, what we purchased was indeed cool, and the first project I worked on was a $2.6 billion contract for the development of the first four V-22 Ospreys, the plane that takes off like a helicopter & then rotates its props to fly like a plane. It was, and is, a badass plane, and there’s nothing like seeing it fly in person.

So it’s pretty funny that I never actually got to see any of them fly in person when I was working there. Thus, it’s great that by living in DC, I’m treated to seeing them fly by once in awhile, as there’s a squadron stationed here.

Catching them flying along the Anacostia river earlier this week was particularly nice, especially with them flying over the beautiful, new Douglass Bridge.