What do you think? Southwest? Delta? United Arab Emirates? Give up?
With the weather in Chicago and New York recently there have been untold numbers of stories of people stranded, lost baggage, missed flights and living in the terminal for days. And it is true that these things have occurred there, but they occur everywhere.
Leaving your hotel or living arrangements and traveling by bus to catch a flight in the expectation that you will be on your way to your destination sometimes gets people to leave at crazy early hours (like 0130). They get to the airport to check in and make sure they get past security, their bags will get on their flight and they anxiously check and recheck the schedule to make sure they are where they need to be on time and ready to go.
Then what happens? Your flight is cancelled and they won’t let you go home because they are going to put you on another flight “soon”. Later they tell you to wait a little bit longer…and then they even get you on the bus to go to the aircraft on the other side of the airport. So you board and off you go to catch your flight. “I am getting out of here! Oh yeah!” you think. The bus driver stops and you can see the aircraft right over there (or is it the other one? There must be at least 5 or more…) He says, “Looks like there is a 30 minute delay, so you can disembark and have a smoke or use the facilities. Some people get off and some stay on because it is a little warmer or they are already tired from traveling. Thirty seconds later (maybe a minute) he calls out again “Hey! Everybody back on the bus, we need to go! The plane is ready!” Doesn’t this sound so familiar? Has it happened to you?
People start to come back on. “Is everybody here? Where is the girl who was in that seat? …the bathroom? Go get her! Are the smokers back in?”
Everybody loads up in the plane and the briefing is given and the engines are started. My seat doesn’t recline, but it is all good. Liftoff and then the announcement that we are starting our final approach comes across the intercom. You get that little excitement in your stomach; part butterfly part…is that airsickness? DO you smell that? (I am soooo glad I am NOT a sympathy puker….but the guy over there IS!)
And then you wait and circle and wait and circle and you realize this is the longest final descent you ever remember. An announcement is made that the weather is too bad in Chicago, New York or even Taji and you are headed back. Another hour plus later you land and are right back where you started from. But no gate, so they take you back by bus the other way and let you off in the passenger terminal again. There are no seats so you sleep on the floor. The next day there are no flights but good news! They have a place for you to stay. Not exactly a Motel 6….but a mattress anyway. Unfortunately your bags are loaded and parked somewhere else. So…you are stuck with what you have been wearing for a day. Then two days. On the fourth day you finally get to climb on another plane and go to….Balad.
Balad? How did THAT happen? Balad is nice though. They have sheets for their beds and a pillow. And you get your bags! The folks who left a day before you arrived at Taji but without their bags. Even though they loaded them on board they thought.
They take you from the plane by bus to a “welcome brief” where they give you a map, some cursory instructions, tell you where you will live and then back on the bus. By this time your bags have been moved and set down on the large dirt/rock area (the rain stopped two days ago and they got the mud scraped away). You can pick up your bags in the dark (they finally figured out they needed light stands and brought some the next evening).
Of course you are wearing your helmet and 45 pounds of IOTV plus your back pack/carry on. Your unit gets your bags and puts them into cars or gators and you walk after them towards your housing area (which is surrounded by 14 foot concrete T-walls) which looks like the other areas except yours has the number #33 stenciled in large font to differentiate it from say #23 or #39 (which is where you got your bags).
“Welcome Jake! How are you?”
“Well sir, four days and (then the explanation above) and I got this rash I don’t know where I got it… (As he walks bow-legged toward the housing Pod) is killing me. I am so tired!”
We arrive and our people have moved his bags and box into his room which is rock star parking, right next to the men’s latrine. I mean 10 steps and he is door to door! (RHIP!)
“This place is dirty! Oh, sir! This room is too big for me. I can use something smaller; maybe have some Soldiers who are two to a room swap with me?”
“No S.J. This whole row is like a millionaire’s street. They don’t want a mobile home to be built here (funny because a CHU IS a small mobile home) and they don’t want junior enlisted Soldiers either. This is Officer’s Row, plus your rank gets you this premier spot and you would be 50 yards and one street over if you moved. You have to stay here. Are you ready to go to bed?”
“I am so tired. But I am hungry. I haven’t eaten all day!”
We walked (he waddled, that rash!) to the midnight chow and Sexy Jake ate onion rings, wings, two Fanta strawberry flavored sodas and a salad. We had Specialist Weill with us and she ate a small portion. I chatted with her while we watched S.J. eat. Every so often he would speak and I would have to say “S.J! You eat! Don’t talk! Eat!” since it was already past midnight.
The Air Force is working their tails off flying all the time. But how can you lose the bags? And they were so over full that the first day or so they didn’t have room even in the tents! If your flight was cancelled they didn’t automatically reschedule you (so what did they think happened to you?)
One of my LT friends, Jeffe Drake (he joined at 35 years old; he had a good job and family, but wanted to serve) called home right after he got his bags. The paramedics were still there and they had just sent his wife to the hospital because she had collapsed at home with the children.
He should be home in less than three days (emergency leave) to see her and further assess the situation. Four to five days from Camp Buehring to Taji (a 90 minute flight by C-130). A twenty hour flight or more from here to Anaheim Hills and he gets there faster probably because he will fly Delta.
After 4-5 days sleeping on concrete floors, traveling and returning, missing your bags, hurrying up to wait, getting ready and then stopping several times you finally arrive. What a joyous feeling! What happiness to actually sleep in your own bed! Be in your own room (shared or not) with a chance to sleep and sleep. You get that joy, joy, joy, joy down in your heart to stay.
Is it planned? Is this a conspiracy? The closer you get to Iraq the better your life gets? NFH “sucked” and we couldn’t wait to leave. Buehring (Kuwait) was a hole where the housing was worse and there was nothing to do. Ali-Al Saleem was the most frustrating experience of the trip so far! Upon finally arriving at Taji, (the biggest dump of all) all you can think is “Home Sweet Home!”
The worst airline to fly for reliability, on-time departure and arrivals, customer service, in-flight meals, lost baggage and customer service (according to the Department of Transportation) is unknown by me. But they don’t rate the U.S. Air Force for any of that, which is good because they would certainly be at the bottom of every category.
For fun, excitement, arrival and departure times guaranteed to be within 3 minutes of scheduled time (whether at a site to drop off Soldiers to attack an enemy or a General or VIP to get to a meeting) you have to “Fly Army”.
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