We had a family vote and decided going to Alaska was our top priority for summer vacation. There was not money for a Commercial flight in the budget so we planned on a Space A flight.
As the time for our trip approached, the planning starting to get intense. It was like piecing together a puzzle but there looked like many combinations that could get us to Alaska. None of them were guaranteed and any of them could involve us sleeping on the floor of a passenger terminal or in a USO lounge.
You can look at getting to Alaska on SPACE A as either very challenging or offering a lot of unique options. The easiest flying option that presented itself was a flight from Charleston to JBER the day after I started leave. This would require a Chinese Fire Drill of the highest magnitude and an all night road trip to Charleston. Cammie vetoed this idea, but it made me really nervous that we bypassed this straight shot. I hoped we wouldn't regret it.
Our next best option was a flight from Andrews to Travis to JBER, but it was an Aero-Medevac and only had five seats. We needed all these seats and had to make three stops without getting bumped to make this work, so we opted to drive to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakesomething or another in New Jersey and fly from there to Travis to JBER because they had 11 seats confirmed on that flight. That was probably a good choice at the time, but by the time we got there, a couple of families who had been on leave for weeks (which made them a higher priority) up and decided to fly to Travis. We were up at 0330 driving to New Jersey and thought sure when we got there that we were going to get seats because the show time had been moved two hours earlier. But, the families who had made no preparations other than living on the actual Air Force Base had a huge advantage on us.
When roll call happened, I could tell it was going to be a coin toss. The young airman at the counter offered me four seats and I offered to let him identify which member of my family he thought I should leave behind. He understood my dilemma better when I framed it that way and apologized to me so much that I really wondered what the last Army guy who got bumped had done to this kid.
So, unwilling to leave anybody behind, we hung around at the terminal to make sure none of the other large families got sick from the fumes before their flight took off (they didn't) and then we left with the plan to leave for McChord the following dawn on a different airplane and with plan B in place. The kids took this change in stride and I was really proud of them. They were anxious to get to Alaska, but they were being flexible like only military brats can be flexible.
The new plan was to fly from McGuire to McChord to Travis to JBER. The times lined up and it looked like a very good plan. With that in place, we planned to spend a day at the Jersey Shore, but alas, the weather brought the Jersey Shore to us via some very significant flooding. So instead of beaching, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy at the local movie theater. It was a good movie, and along with the rain, allowed us to make lemonade from the lemons. Come to think of it, our travel plan somewhat resembled Rocket the raccoon from the movie.
After the movie and a great dinner at a very small pizzeria, we went back to the room and got settled in for the night. As had become my habit, as we lay down to sleep at about 10pm, I was double checking all the Passenger Terminal schedules and noticed something disturbing. They had the flight from McGuire to McChord on the wrong day on one schedule and on the correct day on another. I called the terminal and found out our flight the following morning had moved 24 hours. We no longer had a way to get to Alaska!
I realized we needed to regroup. I briefed the family on the latest change and declared that we probably needed to go home and start our plan over. With this announcement came tears and sobs a plenty. So, I pulled myself together and realized my family deserved a better effort to salvage this operation and I called the terminal in Alaska to figure out who was flying there in the next couple of days. There were some flights I knew about and then there was one I had not seen published anywhere from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma to Elmendorf, Alaska. When the recorded voice said a flight was coming from Tinker, I remembered seeing a flight going to Tinker from somewhere on the east coast. I looked back over all the Facebook schedules and realized it was Andrews the next morning - they had exactly five seats. We could make that if we again rose at the butt-crack of dawn and drove with the donkey in the trunk.
So, that is what we did. Andrews was basically on the way home, so we weren't losing anything but sleep if this didn't work. When we got to Andrews, they got us signed in and then I waited for the clown cars to pull up and unload with all the people who took priority over us.
Roll call came and went and instead of clown cars full of SPACE A travelers, the USO lady told us the President was coming through. So, we were definitely going to make it to Tinker and it looked like we would see Air Force one and POTUS too, based on the timing that we were briefed. As we waited, the Old Guard and other official type people (Secret Service and Customs) starting showing up to prepare for the VIP arrival.
Things were going swimmingly except for the small detail that we were going to have a different weight limit for our bags. Instead of two checked bags at 70lb each and a carry on, all of our bags could not exceed 30 lbs total. This dropped us from a grand total of 850lbs of luggage to 150lbs. That kind of reduction makes waders, deodorant, and rain gear expendable. More of our luggage stayed in the van at Andrews than went with us, but we didn't care. We were going to Alaska! Or at least to Tinker! And we were going to get to see the President!
So, after ditching the majority of our bags, we waited for the President to show up. I had to have a serious conversation with James about things he should and should not say to the President. I had to make some pretty severe threats to secure a commitment of civility from him, but he finally agreed. So, the plane touched down and I realized it was Guinea 1 instead of Air Force 1. I knew that different African leaders were coming into town so I figured our President was coming to greet them. I asked the Secret Service guys present and that's when they broke it to us. We were not going to see POTUS, we were going to see the GOTUS (Guinea president other than US). We did in fact see him, but we didn't know which one he was. The lady volunteering at the USO was crushed. At least I can say the President of Guinea was a sharp dresser no matter which one he was.
I also complimented the Old Guard Soldiers for doing a great job afterward. They deserved that after I told them they would get assigned to Fort Polk if they screwed it up. Some laughed, but I could tell they were worried it was true.
So, now that we had seen, "the president," it was time for us to fly to Tinker, where coincidentally, some of our best friends from our time at Fort Polk recently arrived as missionaries, Sam and Raigon Watkins. I texted Sam and asked how close he was to Tinker and he said five minutes away and he volunteered to pick us up when we landed.
So, worse case scenario, if we don't make it to Alaska, we can vacation in Moore, Oklahoma and visit with the Watkins!
When roll call happened, I could tell it was going to be a coin toss. The young airman at the counter offered me four seats and I offered to let him identify which member of my family he thought I should leave behind. He understood my dilemma better when I framed it that way and apologized to me so much that I really wondered what the last Army guy who got bumped had done to this kid.
So, unwilling to leave anybody behind, we hung around at the terminal to make sure none of the other large families got sick from the fumes before their flight took off (they didn't) and then we left with the plan to leave for McChord the following dawn on a different airplane and with plan B in place. The kids took this change in stride and I was really proud of them. They were anxious to get to Alaska, but they were being flexible like only military brats can be flexible.
The new plan was to fly from McGuire to McChord to Travis to JBER. The times lined up and it looked like a very good plan. With that in place, we planned to spend a day at the Jersey Shore, but alas, the weather brought the Jersey Shore to us via some very significant flooding. So instead of beaching, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy at the local movie theater. It was a good movie, and along with the rain, allowed us to make lemonade from the lemons. Come to think of it, our travel plan somewhat resembled Rocket the raccoon from the movie.
After the movie and a great dinner at a very small pizzeria, we went back to the room and got settled in for the night. As had become my habit, as we lay down to sleep at about 10pm, I was double checking all the Passenger Terminal schedules and noticed something disturbing. They had the flight from McGuire to McChord on the wrong day on one schedule and on the correct day on another. I called the terminal and found out our flight the following morning had moved 24 hours. We no longer had a way to get to Alaska!
I realized we needed to regroup. I briefed the family on the latest change and declared that we probably needed to go home and start our plan over. With this announcement came tears and sobs a plenty. So, I pulled myself together and realized my family deserved a better effort to salvage this operation and I called the terminal in Alaska to figure out who was flying there in the next couple of days. There were some flights I knew about and then there was one I had not seen published anywhere from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma to Elmendorf, Alaska. When the recorded voice said a flight was coming from Tinker, I remembered seeing a flight going to Tinker from somewhere on the east coast. I looked back over all the Facebook schedules and realized it was Andrews the next morning - they had exactly five seats. We could make that if we again rose at the butt-crack of dawn and drove with the donkey in the trunk.
So, that is what we did. Andrews was basically on the way home, so we weren't losing anything but sleep if this didn't work. When we got to Andrews, they got us signed in and then I waited for the clown cars to pull up and unload with all the people who took priority over us.
Roll call came and went and instead of clown cars full of SPACE A travelers, the USO lady told us the President was coming through. So, we were definitely going to make it to Tinker and it looked like we would see Air Force one and POTUS too, based on the timing that we were briefed. As we waited, the Old Guard and other official type people (Secret Service and Customs) starting showing up to prepare for the VIP arrival.
Things were going swimmingly except for the small detail that we were going to have a different weight limit for our bags. Instead of two checked bags at 70lb each and a carry on, all of our bags could not exceed 30 lbs total. This dropped us from a grand total of 850lbs of luggage to 150lbs. That kind of reduction makes waders, deodorant, and rain gear expendable. More of our luggage stayed in the van at Andrews than went with us, but we didn't care. We were going to Alaska! Or at least to Tinker! And we were going to get to see the President!
So, after ditching the majority of our bags, we waited for the President to show up. I had to have a serious conversation with James about things he should and should not say to the President. I had to make some pretty severe threats to secure a commitment of civility from him, but he finally agreed. So, the plane touched down and I realized it was Guinea 1 instead of Air Force 1. I knew that different African leaders were coming into town so I figured our President was coming to greet them. I asked the Secret Service guys present and that's when they broke it to us. We were not going to see POTUS, we were going to see the GOTUS (Guinea president other than US). We did in fact see him, but we didn't know which one he was. The lady volunteering at the USO was crushed. At least I can say the President of Guinea was a sharp dresser no matter which one he was.
I also complimented the Old Guard Soldiers for doing a great job afterward. They deserved that after I told them they would get assigned to Fort Polk if they screwed it up. Some laughed, but I could tell they were worried it was true.
So, now that we had seen, "the president," it was time for us to fly to Tinker, where coincidentally, some of our best friends from our time at Fort Polk recently arrived as missionaries, Sam and Raigon Watkins. I texted Sam and asked how close he was to Tinker and he said five minutes away and he volunteered to pick us up when we landed.
So, worse case scenario, if we don't make it to Alaska, we can vacation in Moore, Oklahoma and visit with the Watkins!
 |
| Guinea 1 and the GOTUS. |
As we rode the bus onto the tarmac at Andrews, my kids started making fun of one of the very small planes sitting out there with the 7something7s that looked huge. When I saw the cart and truck beside this "tiny" plane and thought about our luggage limitations, I cautioned the kids about making fun because that was probably our ride. Sure enough. We got the VIP C-12 that had been tasked to recover the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from Tinker, where he had visited. We caught it on the way out empty and filled it full of VIBs (very important Benefields).The pilots promised us a smooth flight, but I didn't believe them due to the size of our bus. Despite my doubts, we had the smoothest flight you could imagine, complete with a huge lunch. It was awesome! It was probably my last VIP flight too, but still awesome.
.JPG) |
| The VIB! |
 |
| In flight meal and music. |
.JPG) |
| Going to Alaska! |
When we landed, Tinker was not expecting a C-12 to come in on a Saturday morning, so there was a flurry of activity. Base ops called the pax terminal and told them a C-12 had just landed, so the guard unit who was drilling that weekend realized they needed to get over to the airfield and pick up the passengers. Now for those of you who don't know, the C-12 is a VIP aircraft so everybody at Tinker assumed there were VIPs (not VIBs) aboard. As all the eager guardsmen showed up to help us with our bags and take us across the base, I realized that they were feeling about like we did when we expected the POTUS and got the GOTUS. Despite the lack of real VIPs, we still got the VIP treatment. They got us signed in for the flight to Alaska the following day and before you know it, Sam (the OPFOR Geronimo known as Head) appeared to pick us up.
I hadn't seen Sam in about 12 years despite keeping in touch with him. Since we killed Blufor together, he had defeated cancer a couple times and become a minister of the gospel. None of our kids had ever met, but once the Watkins and Benefields all got together, it was indeed a family reunion. Sam's boys let my younger boys play as rough as they wanted and my kids thought the Watkin boys were really cool. Given the way we both believe, I know Sam and I both thanked God for designing this Geronimo reunion only a few weeks after he had moved to Oklahoma himself.
Sam fed us all dinner and drove us to our hotel later that night. He then volunteered to be our taxi again the next morning (Sunday morning, which is a big day for Baptist ministers) to get us to the passenger terminal. When we arrived, we were the first and only passengers and there were 15 seats. We were good to go. Then, the other folks started showing up. None were a higher priority than we were (based on the SPACE A priorities), but I sure didn't want to see anybody leave with the sad face we had left McGuire with a couple days earlier. When the last of the clown cars emptied, there were 18 passengers and 15 seats. This stressed out the guardsmen running the terminal in a way I can not possibly do justice to, but just take note that I decided it was prudent to locate the defibrillator. I also took an active role in getting everybody signed in for the flight, reaching way back to my first enlisted MOS in the Army, 88N. That twenty something year old training seemed very relevant when the computers crashed and they started a paper manifest for all the passengers. The other thing that they did was ask the crew for three more seats so nobody had to leave with a sad face. It seemed like we were on the edge of chaos most of that morning, but God bless those guys at Tinker because all of us flew to Alaska that day.
So, we all loaded up on a KC135 and my family got to experience that transition between desert like heat when we loaded the aircraft and the arctic cold of the A/C on those birds. That was the only part of the flight that wasn't completely awesome for everybody (though I probably enjoyed that part a little too much).
There were three families and countless little kids on this plane and the crew was very accommodating. They let all the kids see the boom and the flight deck, not to mention letting them run around on the plane. They also let the parents and other adults sleep as we flew north.
 |
| Boom! |
Besides a C-12 load of VIBs, the KC-135 carried a family from Fort Wainwright (and North Pole) and another family from JBER home. There were also two retired couples who were making their first trip to Alaska. We loaded them up with all kinds of information to make their trip successful.
It was funny over the next few days how many times we saw the different folks from our plane, including the crew. Whether down town or checking out fishing gear from outdoor recreation, there was a good chance a member of the crew or a passenger our flight would bump into us.
One thing about SPACE A that is not very comfortable is the lack of precision. We ended up landing a day early. Luckily, billeting had a room for us and outdoor rec had a bicycle built for two that we could use. That bike successfully shuttled the whole family to Burger King and then made a run for emergency provisions of the liquid variety.
The rest of our Alaska adventure rates its own blog entry, as does our journey there, so I will try my best to get that done over the next few weeks. But, if you are planning a trip that involves SPACE A travel, I hope our experience encourages you because if your A doesn't stand for Alaska, it will surely stand for Adventure!
 |
| This kid is always the first to jump on any adventure. She may fly these things one day. |
 |
| Maybe he should have been strapped in. |
Besides a C-12 load of VIBs, the KC-135 carried a family from Fort Wainwright (and North Pole) and another family from JBER home. There were also two retired couples who were making their first trip to Alaska. We loaded them up with all kinds of information to make their trip successful.
It was funny over the next few days how many times we saw the different folks from our plane, including the crew. Whether down town or checking out fishing gear from outdoor recreation, there was a good chance a member of the crew or a passenger our flight would bump into us.
One thing about SPACE A that is not very comfortable is the lack of precision. We ended up landing a day early. Luckily, billeting had a room for us and outdoor rec had a bicycle built for two that we could use. That bike successfully shuttled the whole family to Burger King and then made a run for emergency provisions of the liquid variety.
The rest of our Alaska adventure rates its own blog entry, as does our journey there, so I will try my best to get that done over the next few weeks. But, if you are planning a trip that involves SPACE A travel, I hope our experience encourages you because if your A doesn't stand for Alaska, it will surely stand for Adventure!
