The Tuesday that would not end

Well, I'm home! There was a point when it seemed it was never going to come, but eventually it did, and we rolled into the base around 10:50 pm, some 23 hours after leaving our base in Southwest Asia.

Ahhhhh, but the story goes farther back than that...

We checked into the Passenger Terminal about 10:45 pm. What exactly was going to happen wasn't really explained in detail, so since we had to be there by 11:45, we thought we ought to show up a bit early in case you got some type of seating preference. Alas, no such luck. It was open seating, so getting there early just meant you had more time to sit around and wait.

There were actually two rotators leaving this night, one heading to Baltimore, which is a typical stateside destination, and the other, the flight we were on, was heading to Omaha, Nebraska. So where the Terminal holding area typically held about 300 people at a time, ours was quickly surpassing that as two plane loads totaling over 500 steadily packed the waiting area.

Suddenly, the Passenger agent came over to me, asked me if I was the Senior guy on our flight. I shrugged my shoulders and did some quick math in my head, and figured that unless there was a full Colonel on board, I would most likely be the Senior Ranking Officer. I said, "Sure," and suddenly I was the designated Troop Commander for our flight. (This comes into play a bit later...)

My first duty was to find 30 bodies to act as baggage loaders. Apparently, while they have contracted everything else, they have NOT contracted out baggage loaders. They are expected to come from the passengers of the flights. So, faced with this task, I went around to all my guys and asked them if they would like to toss bags. The incentive was that I was directing all those who volunteered to be able to board first, and get their choice of seating. I quickly came up with 22 volunteers from my unit, and turned it over to the passenger agent to come up with the other 8 out of the remaining 190 people on the plane, which she had no problem doing.

So, after about another hour of sitting around, they called for the baggage handlers, processed through the immigration routine and took us out to another holding area that was now much cooler and much more quiet. We hung out there another 45 minutes and then marched out to the DC-10 aircraft that was to be our ride home. Even though it was now 3 am, it was still 95 degrees out, so we stripped to our waists, and as the baggage boxes came up, we started transfering the bags to the conveyor and up into the airplane, where other guys filled two cargo holds. I figure that most people had 3 checked bags, so we pretty much loaded close to 1ooo bags, none of them very light. It was hot, sweaty work, but with 30 of us and only one conveyor belt, only about half of us could work at at time, so we took breaks on every other box. Luckily the Cargo supervisors brought plenty of water, so it really wasn't too bad, and after about 45 minutes we were finished.

Turns out the plane wasn't fueled yet, so we had to march back over to our holding tent for another hour wait while they loaded about 80,000 pounds of fuel. FINALLY, our passenger agent made his appearance again, and led us out to the airplane, the rest of the passengers filing in behind us as we went by. We climbed the stairs at the front end of the aircraft, went through the door and immediately turned left into the front section of the airplane. It wasn't business class, but the Flight Attendents would only allow 45 people up there, so no one had to sit three across. It wasn't business class, but we weren't crowded either. Loading the baggage, though a bit of sweaty pain, turned out to be well worth the effort!

By now it was one hour past take-off, and you could tell there was still a lot of paperwork for the crew to complete, so we sat there until all the i's were dotted and all the t's crossed. When it was all said and done, we were two hours late taking off. I half expected to hear a cheer as the plane lifted off, but it was 7 am, and we'd been up all night already, so most everyone was already asleep, and probably didn't even realize we were airborne.

It was a great feeling to put the base and desert behind us as we climbed up over the Persian gulf, heading north over Iraq, then Turkey, Romania, Germany, England and eventually into Ireland. I wish I could say it was a short flight, but 7 hours seemed a pretty long time after all the activities we'd gone through to get on the plane. I slept a little, but I think I was too keyed up to get any good rest. I was wide awake when we made our decent into Shannon Ireland, though, ready for green, trees and cool weather.

The airport at Shannon is remarkably small and old, considering the history of the place. It has always been a major stopping point for transatlantic flights, though in recent years, bypassed by the big jets able to fly directly to London, Paris, and Frankfurt. For us, however, it was an oasis after the sand and sun and endless heat of the desert. Upon landing, but before debarkation, I met with the Station Agent, the lead Flight Attendant, and the US Embassy representative and discussed the Rules of Engagement for our layover. We agreed upon SOME alcholol at the local pub, and the fact that there would not be any drinking allowed on the flight to the States, even if folks bought booze in the duty free, which they were surely to do. And the Station Agent then briefed that policy over the PA system before letting everyone off the plane.

Inside we found free wifi, a huge duty-free shop that gave an automatic 10% discount to anyone using US Dollars, and a bar that was quickly swarmed by thirsty soldiers who acted like they hadn't had anything to drink in three months, when in fact they had been privy to three adult beverages of their choice every day of their deployment, one of the few bases with that privilege.

Like everyone else, I grabbed a beer, tasted a couple of free samples of single-malt scotch (heaven!) and bought some travel treasures for the folks back home. After about an hour, we herded everyone back on the plane and the Flight Attendant repeatedly made the announcement that all alcohol must be put away for the duration of the flight, and that drinking during the flight was prohibited. Repeatedly.

So it was with some surprise that I found myself being woken up by the lead Flight Attendant about 3 hours into the flight. (Remember I was named the "Troop Commander?") There was a kid in the rear lavatory that was sick and not doing well. I made my way to the back where I found a guy sitting in the Lav with his head in his hands, unable to keep his eyes open. A Doctor and Nurse had been found and were treating him. I asked what was going on, and they informed me this brain surgeon had taken a pill he called Ambien that someone had given him, then chased it with several alcoholic drinks. The Doctor wanted to know who gave him the pill, 1) because the wanted to know what it really was and what effects it would have, and 2) because if it WAS Ambien, it was a controlled substance and someone was passing them out to people untested and unauthorized to have it. I talked to him but he wouldn't give me a straight answer. I finally asked him what unit he was from. Wouldn't you know.. he was a Reservist from my base. Great.

The Doc said about the only thing they could do was keep an eye on him and let him sleep it off. I told them I'd check back later, and made my way back to my seat, shaking my head.

About the time I made it back to my seat, one of our crewmembers came up to me and told me I had to go to the back again... he kept saying "she's out!" over and over. Finally I got him to explain himself, and he told me that one of our admin girls was passed out in the galley. Now this was a surprise to me, since I was just back there, but I shrugged and made my way BACK to to the rear of the aircraft. Sure enough, there on the floor, curled up in a fetal position right in the middle of the galley, was our girl. The medical team was hovering over her now, trying to talk to her, but all she wanted to do was sleep. They told me she had just come back, sat down hard, then rolled on her side and tried to go to sleep. Apparently someone had been plying her with drinks since we took off, and the poor girl hadn't had any sleep for about 24 hours, with probably little food to go with it. She was toast. We pulled her up, sat her upright in a seat, and they took her vital signs, which weren't all that good. She had an elevated blood pressure AND heart rate, and they feared that she was now severely dehydrated. Again, all we could do was let her sleep it off. Only 4 hours till landing...

About an hour later.... another tap on the shoulder rousing me from a fitful sleep. This time the lead Flight Attendant wanted to talk to be at the back of the front seating area. Turns out she suspected someone of drinking, and he would not give her his glass. I asked her to point this guy out... and guess what? Yep, one of mine! He was sitting in the last row, right next to the lav, and he reeked of rum. I asked him for his drink, telling him it was against the rules to consume alcohol inflight. He started arguing with me about it, claiming he didn't have a drink, and that no one told him of the rule. Unfortunately for him, a guy across the aisle tugged on my sleeve and told me that he had seen him down his drink and pass his cup off to someone else. That really made me angry because the guy was straight-faced lying. The Flight Attendant was mad, and now I was too. She had contacted the Captain, who was now out of the flight deck and discussing the issue with the F/A. I went and talked to him and pretty much got a nice lecture on how the rules were clear, and that he wasn't running any booze-cruise, and if I couldn't keep my people in line, he would have no problem calling for security police to meet us upon landing. Great.

So I went back to my criminal, who was now farther back in the airplane, and told him I wanted him to sit in his seat, to shut his mouth and stay there till the plane landed. I also told him he had violated several FAA regulations and if he didn't do as I said, he was going to get taken off the plane in handcuffs. You would think that would make an impression...

At some point in the next two hours, I went back to the rear galley to check on the two sickies. The guy was dead asleep and seemed to be doing okay, and the girl was slowly waking up, but not taking any water...probably because of an upset stomache. The Doctor was concerned still as her vitals were still way out of wack, and he was considering having her hospitalized upon landing, needing an IV to get fluids into her. This of course would have created all kinds of problems with us still needing to fly from Omaha to Pittsburgh, so we left it at monitoring for now, and told the girl she either started drinking water or she was going to be left behind in Nebraska when we landed. She suddenly became interested in at least attempting to drink something...

Unbeknowst to me at this time, while I was in the back of the plane, our criminal mastermind who thinks he's a lawyer, got up out of his seat, followed the F/A up to the front of the plane and confronted her about "the trouble she was causing him." Apparently it got a bit animated until another Lt Col from our group noticed what was going on, and physically pulled him out of her face and back to his seat (I heard about this later). Apparently that little stunt broke the camel's back.

The plane finally started it's descent into Omaha, and landed to a nice sunny day. The vast majority of the people on the airplane were from that base, so there were busses and dignitaries from the base lined up to greet them. As we taxiied in, we saw two of our airplanes, and standing on the tarmac next to the Nebraska Wing Commander, was our Wing Commander, our Squadron Commander, and most of our unit's leadership, who had flown the two planes out to get us.

As the engines wound down and the air stairs moved up to the doorway, about four or five police cars pulled up on either side of the stairs, and eight big beefy security forces people got out and marched up the gangway. I'm thinking to myself, "I hope this is just a normal customs inspection...." but I didn't hold out much hope.

There was a long conference in low tones at the front of the airplane, and then a guy walked over to me, asked me if I was the Troop Commander, and then handed me a piece of paper with three names on it.. all my guys. I admitted which unit they were with, and the guy told me I needed to get all three of those people to the back of the plane until the rest of the passengers had unloaded. Obviously two were already back there, so I went over to the last guy who was sitting very quietly in his seat looking straight ahead, and tapped him on the shoulder, telling him he had to get his gear and head to the back of the plane. He started to argue and question why he was being singled out. I just put up my hand and said something like, "Stop. You know what you did. I told you this was going to happen, now get your stuff and go to the back of the airplane."

I then went back to my seat and watched out the window as first the Nebraska Wing Commander (a general) was told what was going on, and then as he walked over to my Wing Commander and gave him the list of names... it was classic. Couldn't hear the words, but boy was he pissed!

I felt bad about the young guy and girl who were now being treated as criminals, but I thought it was poetic justice when they marched the stupid Captain down the stairs in front of both his Wing and Squadron Commanders, handcuffed him and put him in a squad car, and drove away.

Meanwhile, we loaded up buses, drove over to where the bags where, spent about 45 minutes sorting all the bags and loading them back onto trucks, then going back out to our airplanes, where we transfered our bags and gear for the ride home.

As it turned out, booking these guys and getting their blood alcohol tests complete took just a bit longer than it took us to get ready to take-off, because as we were starting engines, they suddenly appeared. We loaded them up on the plane and took off, headed home at long last.

As it turns out the two young kids were not charged with anything, but will probably incur some form of military discipline. The Captain blew a blood alcohol content over 0.1, and would have charges and paperwork following him back to home station. It should be interesting to watch how that plays out. He's been a problem child for the unit for years, and always seems to get one more chance. Hopefully this will be the last straw; it is as far as I'm concerned.

The flight took 2-1/2 hours, and cumlinated with us landing about 11 pm. Laura, Kurt and Kara were standing on the side of the parking ramp, waving, as we taxiied in. It was so nice stepping out into the cool Pennsylvania evening.. no heat, no humidity... nice and refreshing. It had been a long, long day, and I was more than ready to be home with my family.