Watch and Read Part 2

Whoa! Where do I begin? Well for starters Kel and I had a pretty busy week. The day before we had a great opportunity to speak with a couple hundred students from Astumbo Middle School. (see Kel’s post) Unfortunately only one of us could fly in the C-130 and I won the toss. This post is going to be a difficult one for me to write… so, I’ve decided to put it in diary form so you can get a better feel of how my day in the Air force went.

I have to be honest… I don’t know how to express the level of coolness I experienced on this mission without over-using the word AWESOME! (You’ll see what I mean.) I’ve never been in the military let alone even set foot on AAFB… AND I’ve never seen any other pacific island besides my hometown Guam. So, that should give you a good gauge of how excited I was to be a part of this mission. I hope some of the mpeg footage along with some snap shots will do you justice. Let me just put it this way… now you can call me Mavrick. Below is a loose account of my experience during Operation Christmas Drop-Off. Check it out!

08:38 – Arrived at the AAFB visitors office.

09:00 – Sergeant Brian Bahret arrives to escort the local media, Zita Taitano, (writer for the Marianas Variety) Paul Blas (freelance Photographer, AKA Paul “Kuxika” the Fokai Media photographer) and myself into the AAFB airstrip to board the C-130 that flew in from Yakota Air Base, Japan.

09:38 - Sgt. Bahret has cleared us all for entry, we drive towards the base.

09:43 – Paul “Kuxika” Blas has an expired military decal on his Mustang and the security officer has him pull over and remove his decal.

09:47 – Paul removes his decal and now we’re really cleared for entry. (Man, military security is no joke!)

10:00 – We arrive at the Air Force terminal and Sgt. Bahret gives us a tour. he explains to me the concept of “mac flights” and that there have been some instances when civilians try to catch a flight and wait in the terminal for weeks at a time. (Crazy!)

10:10 – Master Sergeant. Kevin Guenwald (Combat Camera Man) arrives at the terminal and is assigned the very special duty of being our escort aboard the C-130. He doesn’t seem too excited and I don’t blame him… me and Paul are acting like a bunch of tourists. LOL.

10:15 – MSgt. Guenwald prepares us for our trip and we board a blue bus which is to take us to our plane.

10:25 – We arrive on the scene and whoa… the bus driver is driving through the runway.. or maybe on the side of the runway but we’re like 30 feet from the planes… I’m excited!

10:35 – We’ve been advised that we’ll have to wait another 30 minutes to board our plane… we don’t know why… we were just told to wait. We’re on a need to know basis and obviously we don’t need to know.

10:45 – We head back to the terminal and pick up a few more “ride alongs” they look like retired military. An Air Man comes out to greet our bus driver, It was obvious that he was Air Force personnel, but Paul and I find it strange that he looks local… he’s dressed in quick-dry shorts, zories and a Fokai T-shirt. Paul takes his picture.

11:00 – We’re finally back on the runway! We park right beside what seems to be the C-130 we’re about to board. Some other ride alongs get out of a plane and get into the bus. I gather that they maybe hitching a ride with us on Operation Xmas Drop Off.

11:39 – Male bonding… me, Paul and MSgt. Gruenwald shoot the breeze. Poor Zita I hope she doesn’t feel left out. Anyways, it’s just small talk.

11:52 – We get the go ahead to get off the bus. YES! FINALLY! We board the C-130. I wanted to take pictures but I was afraid of getting in the way of the Air Men.

12:10 – Just like a commercial flight, we all get taught how to use the safety equipment just in case of an emergency. Our seats don’t look very comfortable… their made up of aluminum and a fiber-like material… it reminds me of back pack straps on a folding chair… yeah like a picnic chair. We’re given specific directions not to pass the first crate in the belly of the plane. Me and Paul are a bit disappointed that we don’t get to see any up-close action… we’re all yelling at the top of our lungs and using vigorous hand movements to communicate… I think it’s time to put in my earplugs.

12:25 – The cargo bay door is closed and we start rolling.

12:33 – Take off! The 57th Annual Operation Christmas Drop Off is officially underway. Actually, our flight wasn’t the first of the mission, but hell… I’m still excited!

12:50 – Still excited and acting like a tourist… we’re all looking around at every little detail on the plane. It almost like any other airplane but not what I expected… no fancy stuff. The electronics are all exposed… no insulation and hardly any windows for us to look out of. Did I mention the picnic chair style seats?

13:00 – Everyone in the belly of the plane besides us tourist go down for a nap… I’ll use my time to compare this experience to a commercial flight. The only difference so far is the comfort factor… even the pilot’s style of flying is a less fancy of a commercial flight… when we make a turn you can feel it. However, it could be because our flight is not as comfortable or maybe because we’re not in an airtight cabin. I don’t know.

13:30 – Air Force personnel comes down to check on us local tourists and invites us all on a “look but no touch” tour of the cockpit… I quickly break out my camera to document. WHOA! AWESOME! I also take some pictures of the crew.

13:45 – First sight of land! The little island looks like a pair of plyers. No drop off yet.

14:00 – Paul and I are taking photos like there’s no tomorrow… the islands look so beautiful… all green… mostly untouched. I’m jealous Guam doesn’t look like that from the sky.

14:15 – Paul needs the bathroom. Does anyone know where the bathroom is?

14:25 – Paul witnesses one of the Air Man walk up to a wall in the plane and swing a little gate open… the Air Man is leaning his hips toward the wall with the gate blocking only his pelvic area… his face displays signs of relief. Ahah!! We found the bathroom!

14:28 – Paul uses the restroom and describes it as a hole in the wall the size of a pickle jar… how appropriate. I’ll wait.

14:38 – It looks as if the crew is preparing for the first drop… they get all decked out in Top Gun uniforms with the helmet and eye shades. Man this is crazy. I take some pictures. It’s obvious at this point that we’re here to watch and not participate… but I’ll take what I can get.

click here to read part 2