Good day fellow vending enthusiast! In honor of Veterans Day, this week I am going to subject all of you to another great installment of Curt's military memories!!
It was mid January and smack dab in the middle of rainy season in NE Saudi Arabia. We traveled for a day and a half from the King Fahd International Airport in Riyhad to the border town of Raf ha. We arrived under cover of night, Once there we set up our Platoons base camp on the outskirts of town. This consisted of 2 GP Medium "bunk" tents and 1 GP Small for Radio communications. We unloaded our gear, cots, table, radio's, antenna's etc.
We received orders to load up our refueling gear into our helicopters and transport to within 100 miles of the capitol city of Baghdad to perform an "in and out" refueling mission. After the initial refuel, we would load our gear and and make a "hop" of about 25 miles to the north to fuel the Apache's on their way back to the Base camp.
We loaded our gear on the 3 Uh-60 black hawks that were assigned to haul us around and transported to our first refuel site. The choppers were not required to land as all of our gear was made to be "dropped" safely from 5 to 15 feet in the air,including us. It was around 0100 hrs(1 am) and very rainy. When setting up the fuel lines and blivets(big rubber balloons with a holding capacity of 750 gal.) we discovered that the terrain was to "sloped" for the helicopters to land and perform refueling operations. We radioed back to the rear and asked for a delay and a pick up request to be transported to a more suitable site. By now it was dawn and we would have to wait until nightfall for the move. We dug in for the day. It was raining.......allot!
At 2330 hrs (11:30 pm) our UH-60's returned and loaded us up along with our equipment. We moved approximately 5 miles to the south where earlier in the day we had an Air force AWACS plane take topographical pictures of the land to ensure that the ground was level enough to perform safe refueling operations.
The choppers dropped us and we set up the FARP (forward area refueling point). Around 0230 hrs (2:30 am) our 36 Apache helicopters came thru and refueled to continue onto Baghdad and their mission. We loaded up and transported North to our "outbound" refueling site. The Apache's arrived around 530hrs (5:30am), refueled and headed to Base camp. By now the sun was cresting on the horizon and it would be unsafe for us to transport back safely. we would have to dig in and wait for nightfall. It was still raining....allot!
Finally at 2230hrs (10:30 pm) on the 3rd night of what was a 6 hour mission, we were picked up and transported back to Base camp. After arrival we proceeded to load all of our refueling gear onto our trucks and trailers and make our way to our tents. When we arrived at the location that we put our tents, we discovered there was now a 40 foot wide and 6foot deep river flowing swiftly in the spot where our tents once were!! In our haste to establish a base camp, we had inadvertently set up in a dry river bed and the last 3 days of rain had caused it to fill and flow! All of our tents, cots, and some of the guys bags were lost!
I tend to remember this experience in particular when I am trying to figure out or thinking about why a person, group, or organization "blindly" agrees to certain terms or conditions without being fully aware of all of the options that are available to them. Or just assumes that they are receiving the best deal possible. Sometimes the apparent obvious way to do things doesn't end up being the most advantageous outcome for the Individual. I always tell everybody and encourage them to do the homework and find out what is really out there to be had.
From the very core of my being I would like to thank all of our countries honorable veterans and active duty military personal, for it is through their unselfish will and determination and sacrifice that we are afforded the rights and freedoms that we all take for granted everyday! Thank you!!
Regards
Curt Wokal
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