JRTC Adventure Day 1

After an unprecedented morning of lucky traveling, I find myself in Little Rock, Ark.  I arrived at the airport around 6:45 a.m. and was greeted by Southwest Airlines attendant who was awfully chipper for that time of morning.  Which is fine by me considering I was in a rather good mood myself.  I was checked-in, checked my baggage, and through security in no more than 10 minutes -- a timeline I've come to expect from the East Terminal at STL (aka the Southwest Terminal), unless of course it's the day before Thanksgiving...that timeline just isn't realistic then, but I suppose I'll get over that.

So I grabbed french toast sticks and a small coffee and headed to my gate, where I got caught up on the most recent issue of Real Simple magazine, and before I knew it, it was time to board.  I still managed to score a slot in the 'A' Group, even though I checked in 45 minutes before boarding and got a window seat in the third row.  The plane took off exactly on time, and at only half an hour into the flight, we began our initial decent.  We landed 20 minutes early and I was off to baggage claim - my bag was the third one to arrive in the terminal.  Topping the great airport luck, my ride happened to be there despite my premature arrival.

From the airport we headed to Little Rock Air Force Base, where I was shown how to get to the Public Affairs office (where I'll need to be at 7 a.m. tomorrow) and then dropped off at my loaner car and lodging.  Trying my luck, I decided to head to the lodging front desk to see what time I could check into my room, with the secret hope that one would be available already, while keeping in mind that it was only 9:30 a.m. at least an hour and a half before check-out time.  And as the travel gods continued to shine down upon me, they told me my room was available...and it was a TLF (basically an extended stay suite for those of you non-military folks).  I arrived at my room, to find a living room, a full-size kitchen and dining area with a 6-person dining table, a great bathroom, and a full bedroom with large closet.  I was flabbergasted. I realize that to most of you this all probably doesn't matter, and in reality it doesn't.  I made it safely and that's what's important.

But why I'm so taken-aback by this is because this type of smooth traveling does NOT occur in the Clark family-line.  It just doesn't.  We are generally subject to long lines, lots of waiting, the last seat on the plane, the last bag to arrive in the terminal, a ride that is late or a car parked far away, and rooms we have to wait until after check-in time to move in to.  Given my long history of travel hiccups, I felt that today's luck was worth documenting.  So I did.  I documented.

So, why am I in Little Rock?  I'll admit, it's not my first location of choice.  Or my second, third, fourth, or even 18th choice.  However, my job brings me to Little Rock for August's Joint Readiness Training Center exercise.  The exercise takes place at Little Rock and at Fort Polk, La and involves both Army and Air Force troops.

Members of the 621st Contingency Response Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. will provide bare-base setup and operations - making the area suitable and for military operations and aircraft.  Aeromedical evacuation crews from Pope AFB, N.C., MacDill AFB, Fla., Lackland AFB, Texas; and March Air Reserve Base, Calif. will get the "injured" out of the area of operations.   Finally, aircrews and aircraft from Hickam AFB, Hawaii; Belgium and Canada will bring the airlift and airdrop capabilities, by dropping stuff like food and supplies from aircraft, as well as transporting heavy equipment like Humvees and forklifts, or even people between the exercise locations.  All of these activities are directly supporting the 5,000 Army Soldiers who are "deployed" to an austere location at Fort Polk.

More to come on the exercise, I'll be blogging about it daily (hopefully) and will be sharing some great stories of the awesome Mobility Airmen I'll be working with and what they accomplish on a daily basis.  The exercise, or at least the Air Force involvement in it, starts on the 18th and goes through the 25th, be on the look out for some great pictures, and please keep your fingers crossed that I return to St. Louis on the 26th in one piece, with no casts, or other massive injuries -- minor cuts and bruises expected.  Here we go.

Also, please remember that any of these activities I write about are about an EXERCISE, aka training.  We are not at war in Fort Polk or Little Rock, only training for future deployments.

Oh, I almost forgot!  On Wednesday, I got to fly a KC-135 flight simulator as a part of an article that my co-worker, Laura, is working, I was her photographer and the flight sim instructor graciously let me try my hand at flying the plane.  While I had an absolute blast, I'll leave the flying to the pros.  You don't want me landing your plane, however, if a pilot needs to run to the restroom and is down a co-pilot, I feel fairly confident that I could keep the plane aloft...so long as the pilot makes it a quick trip to the loo.  I would post a photo, but photobucket is currently being stubborn - I guess I should figure out the issue before the exercise starts on Tuesday.  Hmmm....