You can't make this up. We leave on time, everything is going fine and we are at the airport around 0100. All our gear has to be loaded on the plane, which we do ourselves by the way. So an army sergeant brings the truck up to the plane and hits it. I thought that was it for the flight, but they got an inspector out there and he said it was all right. We get on the plane, it is taking a long time and they have to take about an hour to shift people all over the plane to make the weight work out OK. So, we get past that.
We are perhaps only an hour behind schedule and we get an announcement that there is an unauthorized passenger on board. We thought it was something serious, it was a rodent of some kind that a few people saw. Did you know that a plane cannot fly if there is a mouse or rat aboard? Apparently, they like to chew on wires. Fair enough. So, we all have to get off the plane while they search for the rodent. They must find it or we can't go. Everyone is sleeping all over the floors of this little airport terminal. They can't find the mouse and we offload everything and the flight is cancelled. I am back at good old Camp McCrady until tomorrow.
Hopefully, we have only lost one day, but it's a day later that I'll be able to return home. While at the little airport I got to see my friend Doug's scapular blessed by the priest. A USO type organization called Blue Star Mothers, SC gave out food and talked with us and made a line thanking us while we got on the plane. What a great group of people they are. One of the of the other Jewish officers in the group always found something to complain about, boy was he thirsty. Good times.
Let's just hope we get off safely tomorrow and that I can post from Kuwait.
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6 comments:
Are you sure it was a military plane and not U.S. Airways?
I hope the second flight goes well. Thanks for laughs.
Leland
Hi Ithan,
I am fascinated with your stories and everyone’s responses. Keep them comin’.
I went to Dan Caffery's retirement dinner last night. Good stories were told! His family, his very first (alphabetical) student from 40 years ago, an ex superintendent, the ex-assistant superintendent who hired him, board member-Jeff Wolfe (Amy’s dad), a bunch of retirees including Tony Biddle who came in from CA., someone from every dept including the janitors with whom he sneaks smokes on the loading dock were all there. About 10 of them roasted him. It was a great tribute to an icon. I hope our current administrators in attendance got a good education.
Chem Olympics started yesterday. The engineering event is about shooting a liquid the furthest. Web Page design deals with plastics. An iron in food analysis is another. One event I know you would be interested in is the lead in lipstick event. I know that it has always been a concern of yours because of the products you use.
I know you were instrumental in finding the mouse, Topo Gigo, on the plane. And he said “Ithan, kissa me goodnight.”
Safe trip,
TF
wow, a rat...What is the plane like? Is it camo? Anyway, I hope you got there safely and everything is as good as it can be. Mom went to see Stacey and Aaron yesterday, she said she had so much fun. I cannot wait, I will visit both of them next weekend with mom. Talk soon.
xo
Quick note. We just landed in Shannon Ireland after a 47 hour delay. The rat incident was followed by a faulty fuel valve and then problems with climate control for the military dogs. We were supposed to take off at 2100 last night and sat on the plane for 7 hours before taking off at 0300 this morning. We should leave for Kuwait in about 30 minutes.
Wow. I'm just blogging in for the first time. Wish I had known when you were at NMPS in Norfolk - I would have tried to spring you for a meal / cold beverage or two. My fault, I should have figured out this blog thing earlier.
Let us know what you need us to send along in care packages. I'll keep the Louis XIII I owe you for your return. Can't risk it getting into the hands of the Taliban.
Stay safe shipmate.
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