Waiting...

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We waited…and waited…and waited…

It was a simple plan. The soldiers fly from Kosovo to Indianapolis, get off the plane and spend a few days at lovely Camp Atterbury going through the De-mobilization out-processing and off they go back to their families.

Needless to say that’s not quite how things are worked out. The soldiers were supposed to be here days ago. Me and my admin buddy were sent from Kosovo to Camp Atterbury so we could prepare for our soldiers and ensure that their time spent out-processing goes smoothly. It should have been very simple and in a few days we would have been done. But no…

On the day they were supposed to depart from Kosovo, the first plane load sat at the airport for over 12 hours and the second plane load never even got out the front gates of Camp Bondsteel. Then the first bunch of soldiers got off the plane and went back to Camp Bondsteel because officially the flights were cancelled. Then the soldiers had another problem. They had already turned in the keys to their rooms, and had packed their sleeping bags into their duffles, so for nearly 600 soldiers the trip was starting out very poorly and everybody was a little inpatient and the cycle of sleep deprivation had started. Next day, more waiting, more changes to flight times, more disappointed soldiers and now the soldiers and the transportation staff were beginning to get a little frustrated.

As the time ticked by and the soldiers didn’t depart they actually missed their window for the flights and so now it was anybody’s guess to what would be happening. But eventually after a few days the flights finally left Kosovo enroute to Portugal and wouldn’t you know it…The planes got re-routed back into the southern flight pattern and ended up landing in Germany. This was so not in the plan, and if you were to ask a soldier who was on the flight they would be in total amazement that they would be spending another 12 hours in a strange airport as the plan continued to change. Now the plumes of dust from the volcano were interfering with the flight patterns and the European airspace was getting all muddled up again.

Finally, both those planes took off. This time they were only 30 minutes apart, which could cause an unloading problem in Indiana with them being so close together. What else could go wrong? Well…as they were traveling to the US it was decided by the airplane company that they would make a fuel stop on the east coast before they reach Indianapolis. More delays. Now a few extra hours going through customs in Maine, more sitting and the only sleep these guys are getting is actually on the plane.

On my side here at Camp Atterbury it was just as hectic, but I must admit, I was real happy it wasn’t me being the one trapped on an airplane with 300 other stinky soldiers who were probably a little testy, hungry for anything other than the airplane meals and anxious to get this travel mess over with. We had spent days getting everything ready for the arrival of the soldiers. Buildings were opened up and cleaned for sleeping, pillows fluffed, food ordered and daily schedules developed for the actual out-processing. It was perfect, everything was ready for the onslaught of soldiers, and then. Nothing…

Well I suppose not really nothing. Every time there was a flight change I would call at least a dozen numbers to various states to keep them updated. Generals who were planning on welcoming home their soldiers were having their staff change their plans time and time again. The feeding plan was cancelled over and over and over for a total loss of more than 1800 planned meals. I think the staff at Camp Atterbury did a great job at being flexible but the frustration could be felt on both sides of the world.

So as we sat on this side waiting, we made adjustments and because we don’t have a office here we spent a lot of time working on the picnic bench outside of Subway (free WIFI!) just reacting to the ever changing conditions. In total…17 complete re-write of the schedule over a 5 day period. The final 12 hours we finally gave up and just decided that we would wing it when they arrived! It worked. Once we really quit fretting and planning, the inevitable happened…

THE SOLDIERS FINALLY ARRIVED!

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