Back in the Saddle

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.

~ Henry Ford

Flew for the first time in two weeks last night. It may sound silly, but flying is one of those occupations that if you don't do it on a constant basis, you really DO get rusty. There are checklists and procedures that have to be followed, and the lack of familiarity really stands out when there has been a break. The first flight back is usually one were the entire crew literraly spends the whole time "knocking off the rust.," getting re-familiar with where things are in the plane, how things work, how each other works, and how the external players (ATC, Command Post, Maintenance, fuelers, transportation, etc.) work. By the time the day is over you are completely exhausted, even if it hasn't been one of your longer flights.

Yesterday's mission was supposed to be nice and easy, just to ease us back into the groove. Up into Iraq, bring some stuff out and down to Bahrain, then home. Unfortunately first there was a couple hours delay due to a change of mission taskings, then while we were waiting for that, our plane airplane had maintenance issues, so we got bumped farther while we waited for an second plane to return so we could take it out again. All in all, we were delayed 6 hours from our original schedule. Even a short day is going to seem long when you're starting your day after already being up 7 or 8 hours.

The new mission was max cargo. Haven't had that much stuff on the plane since we've been here. Three stops in country, just about every one fully loaded with 5 or 6 pallets of cargo needing to be moved from one place to another. The loadmasters really earned their stripes on this one.

To make things just that much more entertaining, we were blessed with the accompaniment of a staff guy, who "just wanted to go along for a ride," on his day off. We get these once in awhile, and while I can understand them wanting to get out of the office and see what's going on, they really are just in the way, and a burden to the crew. We have to wait for them on all the pre-take-off prep stations as they get their gear. You have to include them in the briefings, find a place for them to ride in the plane, step over and around them as you go about your duties in-flight, and quite honestly follow all the endless/mindless rules and requirements like wearing helmets and flak vests below 15,000' when everyone (including the tactics guys) knows there's little threat anymore. (Why else would they say we really don't have to use lights out/tactical approaches, or flares at so many locations? Curiously enough, those rule changes makes scheduling longer missions easier...)

He was a decent guy, but we had to play the game the entire mission and wearing all the extra gear in and out of three stops just adds to the fatigue of an already long day. Unfortunately, no matter how "cool" a staff guy is, 9 chances out of 10 they'll go back and report your crew for the one pet peeve of the day, like not wearing reflective belts in the airplane or something. Then your boss gets a call, then YOU get a call....

Our big fear was of getting messed with at Immigration, either going or returning. I am happy to report that neither process provided anything significant to report and went very smoothly. I guess we really are back in the game.