Neither rain nor snow...nor the US Air Force...
...could keep me from meeting my hubby for a few days of R & R in Germany, although the USAF made getting out of Afghanistan as difficult as possible!
I showed up to the air base last Thursday with my signed leave form in hand and a huge smile on my face, only to be told that people taking leave had to fly through Kuwait. That can take days of waiting in line for a seat and with my husband on the way to Germany, I was limited in time. I know there are flights directly to Germany and I know people who have flown on them, so, never being one to take no for an answer, I asked why I had to fly thru Kuwait. I was told it had to do with security.
Security in a war zone is not something to tangle with, so I tried calling the chief of staff and operations officer to try to figure out what to do. But they were both at a ceremony so I headed back to the public affairs office to try to figure out what to do.
One of my public affairs officers just happened to be in from the field, and when I explained to him the situation he told me that didn't sound correct. So we headed back over to the air field and talked with an Army sergeant at a different window.
This time the sergeant took the time to explain that the Air Force likes to route people on leave through Kuwait, but that when it didn't make sense soldiers were to be allowed to fill the seats on the military flights headed to their destination. Apparently security wasn't the main issue. He talked with someone who was supposed to be in charge, cleared up the misunderstanding, and I was allowed to get on the waiting list for the next flight to Germany.
Because the "show time" for the flight was some 5 hours away, I ate dinner with a couple other public affairs folks and then headed over to one of the PAO tents to catch a nap on an empty bunk. The so-called "passenger terminal" is a dismal, dirty place. It's only saving grace is rows of dirty love seats that can pass for a place to lay one's head and watch the big screen TV that runs 24-hours a day. But at this point I was glad to know people at the air base who could provide me with somewhere quiet to lay down until the flight left.
But when I returned at midnight to check in for the flight, I was met at the passenger window by three Air Force sergeants who appeared to take some pleasure in telling me that I could not fly directly to Germany from Afghanistan. They referred me by phone to the personnel section where I was told the same thing, only this time I was told it was "the rule." Now my radar went up. Rules are made by people and can be changed by people. I called back to my base and got through to some folks who immediately began checking into the information I had been given.
No one at my headquarters could find any rule anywhere that would prohibit me from flying space-available to Germany if seats were available. I went back to the sergeants at the passenger check-in window to ask where specifically this rule could be found. CENTCOM I was told -- so I got back on the phone to my chain of command.
Of course, had I been thinking straight, I would have asked to speak to the officer in charge. I can't really blame the sergeants for standing their ground over whatever the rules were, but by then they should have stepped back to allow officers to handle the situation. As I look back on it I am quite amazed that these junior sergeants wielded so much power. As I sat at the terminal waiting while people at my headquarters tried to make some sense out of the situation, I watched several other travelers either turned away for insufficient paperwork, so routed through Kuwait no matter where they were heading. The finality with which they turned people away was troubling.
Calls from my headquarters to CENTCOM headquarters in Florida turned up nothing. So this time the deputy chief of staff got on the phone with the sergeants at the passenger terminal. They told him that the only way I could get on a plane to Germany was if I was flying emergency leave or permissive temporary duty (TDY). Suddenly security was not an issue if I had different paperwork! The deputy chief of staff told me to hang tight. Permissive TDY paperwork was do-able! Suddenly I was making progress.
I waited for about 5 hours and eventually watched the plane to Germany take off leaving me in Afghanistan. You can't imagine how frustrating that was knowing that my husband was at that moment flying to Germany and that I might not get there.
Around 9 a.m., however, my chain of command came through with permissive TDY orders and I was hoping to get on the next flight to Germany -- scheduled for that evening. I guess that was too easy for the sergeants working the passenger desk, who had by now dug in their heels, because a new sergeant showed up at the passenger terminal apparently with the intent to embarrass me. He lectured me within earshot of others that my chain of command's attempt to circumvent the rules would not go unnoticed if he had anything to do with it. I made a tearful call back to my headquarters, ready to give up. I was exhausted and embarrassed. If there was some rule somewhere that prevented me from getting on a plane to Germany, I was too insignificant to change it. I never should have counted on things working out so that I could meet my husband on leave.
The reply on the other end of the line was "don't give up!" I soon realized that neither I nor my chain of command had done anything wrong; in fact, they were good people trying to do the right thing. I am lucky to work for some really good people because over the next several hours, no fewer than three general officers and the chief of staff of CENTCOM got involved to get to the bottom of why those three sergeants would not allow me to board a plane to Germany!
What they found was that there were no security issues involved with flying directly from Afghanistan to another county, and there was no CENTCOM rule prohibiting it, either. Eventually an old memo was uncovered by the personnel officer at the air base, but in actuality, it couldn't be determined if it still applied. And as we figured, it appeared that the rule was devised to fill contract airline seats for the thousands of troops taking leave in the US from Iraq and Afghanistan. No one could figure out if it really applied to someone trying to get to Germany, space-available on scheduled flights. I think it was a case of applying a rule to all situations, even when it didn't make sense. The result was that the Air Force was prepared to allow planes to fly empty to places like Germany and make all soldiers go through Kuwait, even when it didn't make sense.
Eventually persistence overcame stupidity and at around 11 p.m. Friday night I boarded a huge, nearly empty, C-17 bound for Germany. The plane was configured for 54 passengers and a ton of cargo, but there were only some 15 of us on the flight and one lonely pallet of cargo. I would have stopped to think about the people bound for Germany who were sent through Kuwait for days of unnecessary waiting, except that by that point I had a pounding headache and just wanted to get whatever sleep I could on that cold, noisy cargo plane. I didn't consider myself free until the wheels left the runway -- and by then I was fast asleep.
The trip took about seven hours but Saturday morning I arrived in Germany. The air force terminal at the air base was beautiful, there was hot food and clean restrooms. I called my husband at the hotel to let him know I had made it, and then sat down to wait the hour or so it would take him to get to the air base.
And then I did a stupid thing -- I inquired about the return flights to Afghanistan. One look at my name tag and the sergeant informed me that "they had been briefed at the shift change to watch for me." Someone -- probably one of those sergeants at the air base in Afghanistan -- had called ahead to the air base in Germany claiming that I was there illegally. The sergeant didn't know quite what to do and called a second lieutenant. He thought I might have to get right back on that plane and fly back to Afghanistan, but didn't press the issue. I suspect by then I had developed a reputation that reached thousands of miles.
I, in the meantime, got my chief of staff back on the phone.
Of course, his first question was "why the hell did you ask about return flights?" I couldn't argue with him there, except that a senior Air Force officer in Afghanistan recommended that upon arrival in Germany I get ask about return flights so that I'd be prepared to leave at the given time.
In the meantime, my ever-ready chief of staff told me he'd stand by just in case the Air Force continued to give me a hard time.
The nice second lieutenant, together with his trusty but quiet operations sergeant, studied my leave form for several minutes. He felt like it was all in order and didn't quite understand why there was a question. Granted not many people manage to fly right from Afghanistan to Germany, but other than that, my leave form was perfectly legal and all my paperwork was in order. He was kind of faced with a dilemma, and I could see the wheels turning in his head -- just how much pain do I want to take this early in the morning. I suggested that he let me proceed to my hotel since I provided him with a copy of my leave form and just for good measure, I gave him several names and phone numbers to call back to in Afghanistan should there be any further questions. Common sense prevailed and he bid me farewell wishing me a relaxing leave.
I called my chief back to let him know the coast was clear. He bellowed over the phone -- "now get the hell off that air base before they close the gates!"
I couldn't thank him enough for sticking behind me. I was just hoping that somehow I hadn't gotten everyone mad at me. I don't know why I'd think that except that I knew that a lot of very senior people had spent hours trying to figure how why someone on leave couldn't get on a scheduled flight to Germany when the plane would have gone there even if it was empty.
I'm told that the commanding general has assigned a senior officer the responsibility of getting that old rule changed so that soldiers aren't denied flights on available aircraft. If I can take anything away from this experience, I hope I've made it easier for the next soldier. It shouldn't take an act of Congress to fly space-A when seats are available and you've been granted leave.
I'm now awaiting travel back to Afghanistan. When I checked in this afternoon, there didn't seem to be any questions with regards to getting back to Afghanistan!!!!!
I showed up to the air base last Thursday with my signed leave form in hand and a huge smile on my face, only to be told that people taking leave had to fly through Kuwait. That can take days of waiting in line for a seat and with my husband on the way to Germany, I was limited in time. I know there are flights directly to Germany and I know people who have flown on them, so, never being one to take no for an answer, I asked why I had to fly thru Kuwait. I was told it had to do with security.
Security in a war zone is not something to tangle with, so I tried calling the chief of staff and operations officer to try to figure out what to do. But they were both at a ceremony so I headed back to the public affairs office to try to figure out what to do.
One of my public affairs officers just happened to be in from the field, and when I explained to him the situation he told me that didn't sound correct. So we headed back over to the air field and talked with an Army sergeant at a different window.
This time the sergeant took the time to explain that the Air Force likes to route people on leave through Kuwait, but that when it didn't make sense soldiers were to be allowed to fill the seats on the military flights headed to their destination. Apparently security wasn't the main issue. He talked with someone who was supposed to be in charge, cleared up the misunderstanding, and I was allowed to get on the waiting list for the next flight to Germany.
Because the "show time" for the flight was some 5 hours away, I ate dinner with a couple other public affairs folks and then headed over to one of the PAO tents to catch a nap on an empty bunk. The so-called "passenger terminal" is a dismal, dirty place. It's only saving grace is rows of dirty love seats that can pass for a place to lay one's head and watch the big screen TV that runs 24-hours a day. But at this point I was glad to know people at the air base who could provide me with somewhere quiet to lay down until the flight left.
But when I returned at midnight to check in for the flight, I was met at the passenger window by three Air Force sergeants who appeared to take some pleasure in telling me that I could not fly directly to Germany from Afghanistan. They referred me by phone to the personnel section where I was told the same thing, only this time I was told it was "the rule." Now my radar went up. Rules are made by people and can be changed by people. I called back to my base and got through to some folks who immediately began checking into the information I had been given.
No one at my headquarters could find any rule anywhere that would prohibit me from flying space-available to Germany if seats were available. I went back to the sergeants at the passenger check-in window to ask where specifically this rule could be found. CENTCOM I was told -- so I got back on the phone to my chain of command.
Of course, had I been thinking straight, I would have asked to speak to the officer in charge. I can't really blame the sergeants for standing their ground over whatever the rules were, but by then they should have stepped back to allow officers to handle the situation. As I look back on it I am quite amazed that these junior sergeants wielded so much power. As I sat at the terminal waiting while people at my headquarters tried to make some sense out of the situation, I watched several other travelers either turned away for insufficient paperwork, so routed through Kuwait no matter where they were heading. The finality with which they turned people away was troubling.
Calls from my headquarters to CENTCOM headquarters in Florida turned up nothing. So this time the deputy chief of staff got on the phone with the sergeants at the passenger terminal. They told him that the only way I could get on a plane to Germany was if I was flying emergency leave or permissive temporary duty (TDY). Suddenly security was not an issue if I had different paperwork! The deputy chief of staff told me to hang tight. Permissive TDY paperwork was do-able! Suddenly I was making progress.
I waited for about 5 hours and eventually watched the plane to Germany take off leaving me in Afghanistan. You can't imagine how frustrating that was knowing that my husband was at that moment flying to Germany and that I might not get there.
Around 9 a.m., however, my chain of command came through with permissive TDY orders and I was hoping to get on the next flight to Germany -- scheduled for that evening. I guess that was too easy for the sergeants working the passenger desk, who had by now dug in their heels, because a new sergeant showed up at the passenger terminal apparently with the intent to embarrass me. He lectured me within earshot of others that my chain of command's attempt to circumvent the rules would not go unnoticed if he had anything to do with it. I made a tearful call back to my headquarters, ready to give up. I was exhausted and embarrassed. If there was some rule somewhere that prevented me from getting on a plane to Germany, I was too insignificant to change it. I never should have counted on things working out so that I could meet my husband on leave.
The reply on the other end of the line was "don't give up!" I soon realized that neither I nor my chain of command had done anything wrong; in fact, they were good people trying to do the right thing. I am lucky to work for some really good people because over the next several hours, no fewer than three general officers and the chief of staff of CENTCOM got involved to get to the bottom of why those three sergeants would not allow me to board a plane to Germany!
What they found was that there were no security issues involved with flying directly from Afghanistan to another county, and there was no CENTCOM rule prohibiting it, either. Eventually an old memo was uncovered by the personnel officer at the air base, but in actuality, it couldn't be determined if it still applied. And as we figured, it appeared that the rule was devised to fill contract airline seats for the thousands of troops taking leave in the US from Iraq and Afghanistan. No one could figure out if it really applied to someone trying to get to Germany, space-available on scheduled flights. I think it was a case of applying a rule to all situations, even when it didn't make sense. The result was that the Air Force was prepared to allow planes to fly empty to places like Germany and make all soldiers go through Kuwait, even when it didn't make sense.
Eventually persistence overcame stupidity and at around 11 p.m. Friday night I boarded a huge, nearly empty, C-17 bound for Germany. The plane was configured for 54 passengers and a ton of cargo, but there were only some 15 of us on the flight and one lonely pallet of cargo. I would have stopped to think about the people bound for Germany who were sent through Kuwait for days of unnecessary waiting, except that by that point I had a pounding headache and just wanted to get whatever sleep I could on that cold, noisy cargo plane. I didn't consider myself free until the wheels left the runway -- and by then I was fast asleep.
The trip took about seven hours but Saturday morning I arrived in Germany. The air force terminal at the air base was beautiful, there was hot food and clean restrooms. I called my husband at the hotel to let him know I had made it, and then sat down to wait the hour or so it would take him to get to the air base.
And then I did a stupid thing -- I inquired about the return flights to Afghanistan. One look at my name tag and the sergeant informed me that "they had been briefed at the shift change to watch for me." Someone -- probably one of those sergeants at the air base in Afghanistan -- had called ahead to the air base in Germany claiming that I was there illegally. The sergeant didn't know quite what to do and called a second lieutenant. He thought I might have to get right back on that plane and fly back to Afghanistan, but didn't press the issue. I suspect by then I had developed a reputation that reached thousands of miles.
I, in the meantime, got my chief of staff back on the phone.
Of course, his first question was "why the hell did you ask about return flights?" I couldn't argue with him there, except that a senior Air Force officer in Afghanistan recommended that upon arrival in Germany I get ask about return flights so that I'd be prepared to leave at the given time.
In the meantime, my ever-ready chief of staff told me he'd stand by just in case the Air Force continued to give me a hard time.
The nice second lieutenant, together with his trusty but quiet operations sergeant, studied my leave form for several minutes. He felt like it was all in order and didn't quite understand why there was a question. Granted not many people manage to fly right from Afghanistan to Germany, but other than that, my leave form was perfectly legal and all my paperwork was in order. He was kind of faced with a dilemma, and I could see the wheels turning in his head -- just how much pain do I want to take this early in the morning. I suggested that he let me proceed to my hotel since I provided him with a copy of my leave form and just for good measure, I gave him several names and phone numbers to call back to in Afghanistan should there be any further questions. Common sense prevailed and he bid me farewell wishing me a relaxing leave.
I called my chief back to let him know the coast was clear. He bellowed over the phone -- "now get the hell off that air base before they close the gates!"
I couldn't thank him enough for sticking behind me. I was just hoping that somehow I hadn't gotten everyone mad at me. I don't know why I'd think that except that I knew that a lot of very senior people had spent hours trying to figure how why someone on leave couldn't get on a scheduled flight to Germany when the plane would have gone there even if it was empty.
I'm told that the commanding general has assigned a senior officer the responsibility of getting that old rule changed so that soldiers aren't denied flights on available aircraft. If I can take anything away from this experience, I hope I've made it easier for the next soldier. It shouldn't take an act of Congress to fly space-A when seats are available and you've been granted leave.
I'm now awaiting travel back to Afghanistan. When I checked in this afternoon, there didn't seem to be any questions with regards to getting back to Afghanistan!!!!!
1 Comments:
Fight the power! I hope that it is fixed before I go on leave. The whole Kuwait to Germany thing is something I don't understand, esp since they flew me direct to Afghanistan from Germany. More reason to outsource the Air Force.
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