wtfwasithinking.org

21 Jul 2008, Mon

Got about 3 hours of sleep before heading to base. Show time on base was 5am, actual flight boarding time… 9am. On the up side, I was on Chalk 3, which was myself with 15 other guardsmen and two pallets. I actually had room to spread out, lay down and try to catch up on a couple Z’s. For being a 6 hr flight, it really could have been worse.

Arrive in Kanger about 1730 local time (2 hrs ahead of eastern time). Proceeded with the normal day arrival crap of running pax from the planes as they come in to the dorms and bringing the aircrew to Ops, then to the dorms. Scott and I ended up being billeted in the hotel. Our other option was to be on the second floor of the dorms with the flight crew, and then being moved to the hotel halfway though our stay. I’m glad the 1st Sgt decided to put us up on the hotel to being with. Right now the only down side is there is no working networking. There is a wifi network called easyNET, but it doesn’t go anywhere. There is supposed to be networking available at Ops, but I don’t know how locked down it is. If COMM has already gotten their hands on it, I’ll be out of luck for civ e-mail access.

Currently its 2102 and for it being only 1902 back home, I’m feeling pretty wiped. I’m think’n I’m going to turn in instead of hanging out. Got to be up at 0330 for my first bus run anyway.

22 Jul, Tues

It was a day of washouts. We had two flights planned and both were ultimately cancelled due to weather. This really sucked for the NSF pax that were supposed to fly out to Summit.

The Royal Danish Air Force’s C-130J took off today, an impressive sight. The new prop design is Much quieter than the 4 blades we currently use on our outdated C-130s.

23 Jul, Wed

A workday that was short and sweet. Shift change was at 10, due to all the flights being off the ground by 9am. That’s right, all 3 birds mad it into the air and on their way to their missions before 10am. Given the number of issues some of our old birds have and the weather at the landing sites, that is a feat.

After Scott got off shift, we headed up past Kellyville (pop. 6, was 7 two years ago, but some of the scientists moved on) and up to the old antenna array site. Its an impressive area. Lots of concrete and pilings that go at least 20ft into the ground with anchor setups on them. Obviously something huge was there but all that’s left are the supports and the generator shack. The shack is impressive in that there are 3 very large gas/diesel generators.

24 Jul, Thur

Today was another day of pax shuffle. All in all, both flights made it out. Getting to that point was a bit of a trial as 95 was having radar issues again. Thankfully I only had to load the pax on to the aircraft twice. Everything else during duty hours was business as usual.

Didn’t head out this evening to snap pics. Instead I opted to get some extra sleep as tomorrow is going to be a long day/night. Friday nights are always long nights. Good thing I won’t be driving anywhere. I will need to get more cash though. I doubt the Crews will be as generous with the drinks, as they were when I was younger and corruptible.

25 Jul, Fri

Today went really smooth. Pax and crew were where I needed them to be, when i needed them. 95 had another radar issue and thusly nominated itself to go back tomorrow as the rotator. I’ll be happy to see it go, its been throwing off my runs and aggravating the NSF/KISS team.

The bluenose went well. Everyone pretty much had a good time and we kept it low key enough that no one got seriously out of hand. The only “incident” was a Loadmaster who landed himself in a sewer ditch. I’m going to withhold names until later to protect the drunk. Thankfully I didn’t get as drunk as he did. I still had my fair share of alcohol and had a really nice buzz going for a while. I did find out how expensive drinks are in the local club/café the hard way. I made the mistake of asking for a white Russian. The cost of my drink? Telling the bartender how to make it and 86Kr (keep in mind its about 4.25Kr to the US Dollar). Thank GOD I didn’t ask him to make it a double.

26 Jul, Sat

Finally a day off, Scott was nice enough to take first shift staring today, and for the rest of the week as well. I also went hopping around the fjord snapping pics of the rock changes that have happened since I was last here. One of the large rocks that showed up in 04 is now gone. I’m actually kind of amazed that it made it under the bridge. Under the bridge itself has been cut deeper. The water still flows though there like a bastard, but it doesn’t splash as high as it used to.

27 Jul, Sun

The morning dragged on soooo long. I had hung out with the guys the night before and was out until 3am. Room service decided to come though at 8am like a herd of elephants. Spent the rest of the morning playing D2 and getting myself ready for the flight coming in.

90 replaced 95, thankfully they didn’t send 95 back. It’s interesting that for the 45 pax, mil and civ, that we sent down sat, we only got 18 on this one. I hope that won’t leave the Maint. shops short handed.

28 Jul, Mon

Flights in and out as usual. Except now it was 92’s turn to break. From what I’m overhearing, it sounds like another radar issue.

29 Jul, Tues

Got the final word on 92, its radar is a paperweight. It’s really nothing major as long as we don’t send it up to the ice or have overcast weather when 92 is sent back to NY on Friday. The radar is only really needed to little to no visibility.

Ed got me to run with him on a 3mi loop… I hurt. For as much as I hurt, vodka on ice is really good and helps ease the muscle pain a lot.

30 Jul, Wed

I still hurt from the run.

The bus broke today. Tie-rod was loose and Scott turned it into maintenance. There was too much play in the steering to be safe on the flight line. A couple hours later I got the call to turn in the mini-bus (7pax van) and pick up our bus. They replaced the left tie-rod end but not the right, which has some play in it, but not as much as before. They also decided to try and patch the hole in the tank for the air brakes. They had a good idea, scrape it clean, then put some glue and a slab of rubber on, and finally synch it down with a clamp strap. The only problem is that they didn’t wait for the glue to cure, so when pressure built up in the tank, it pushed all the glue out of the way. I’ve given a shot at fixing by cleaning it off again, applying some new glue and letting it sit overnight with no pressure in the tank.

31 Jul, Thurs

Evidently a bunch of the locals decided to have a party in the common room of the hotel we’re in. Proof was in the amount of bottles scattered around the table and the one local that was still passed out on the couch. Scott told me that they were in full swing when he was up at 3am to get ready for first shift. I didn’t hear a thing as I had a really good, yet mellow, buzz going for about two hours before going to bed.

Not nearly as much, but I still hurt.

The fix worked. The bus has been maintaining pressure! But! It is now having trouble getting started. Have I mentioned how much I love this bus?

Looks like I’m going to be on the flight back on Friday.

The Deployment Commander decided to throw a BBQ for us as thanks for the work and effort that we’d put in the past two weeks. Unfortunately he decided to have it a little too early. There were still 14 people working on the line and prepping the flights going out. The 1^st Sgt was cool enough to save a couple of the burgers and found some steaks for the guys up on the line.

After the festivities there was much packing to be done. Finally got to bed around 1am, the less sleep the more I’ll sleep on the flight home.

1 Jul, Fri

Up at 3am, showered and shaved. Bags on the pallet by 4am and then waiting around till 6:15 when I could finally claim a seat on the plain. The flight home went well. It was a full flight but there were enough open spots so that people could spread out and find places to nap. As it was, I was able to catch up on the sleep I missed.

It’s good to be home.

The full gallery of pics i took is at pics.wtfwasithinking.org