Trent Ruble's Blog: The Other Way It Is - Posts Tagged "military-airlift-command"

From 1980 to 1984 I was an aircraft loadmaster assigned to the United States Air Force's 20th Military Airlift Squadron in Charleston, South Carolina. From there, our C-141 Starlifter crews delivered people and cargo to airports and air force bases all over the world. Occasionally, when visiting these exotic locations, our crew members would run afoul of local procedures with which they weren't familiar. I previously wrote of the International Incident (November 4th, 2012) I nearly caused in Berlin, but that wasn't the only one.



Another of our trips was a routine passenger mission called the "Eagle," which staged in Frankfurt and Athens. Staging meant the aircrew would rest while the plane continued with a new crew. Then, usually the next day, the original aircrew would pick up another plane coming through, already loaded, and continue on. After staging in Athens, an Eagle crew would take the plane to three stops in Turkey and return to Athens in one day. We called that day the "Turkey Trot." One of those stops was at Izmir Air Base near Istanbul, Turkey.



Because Izmir was our first stop in Turkey, we were always met by Turkish customs agents. It was their job to ensure we weren't carrying any of the items prohibited in Turkey: pork, Coca-Cola, or pornography. Any US military aircraft or vessel is considered by the United States to be sovereign US territory regardless of where it sits and, therefore, not subject to search of any kind. But, rather than cause unnecessary conflict, we used a more diplomatic approach. Upon our arrival we always offered the agents coffee and American snacks and they, in return, would not ask us to drag our bags. It was a nice arrangement that worked well.



It was part of a loadmaster's job to make sure there was enough coffee and food on board for the sometimes very long and crowded flights. Unfortunately, on one of the Eagle missions to which I was assigned, we were running low. Upon our arrival at Izmir, the agents came on board as they usually did and started to pour themselves coffee. I stopped them and explained the situation thinking that, based on our long history of cooperation, they would understand. But, they didn't. The agents became unreasonable insisting that we remove all of our personal luggage. The Aircraft Commander gathered the crew and asked if any of us had any of the prohibited items. None of us did, unlikely as it was. So, at the commander's order, we removed our bags and allowed the customs agents to search them. When they were finished we loaded the bags and continued with our mission. The international incident was diffused. But, because I was perceived by the rest of the crew to be the one who allowed the coffee and food to run low, thus allowing the situation to unfold, I was not the most popular guy the rest of the trip.

More recently, a fellow loadmaster with whom I flew several missions, a loadmaster who'd made the job his career and is still flying today, told me that all crew members on USAF cargo planes now fly armed (in the 1980s we usually didn't) and no foreign nationals are allowed on board the aircraft. He said there have been incidents in which crew members have had to draw their weapons in order to prevent customs agents from coming on board. I'm glad it didn't come to that during my encounter, especially since we weren't armed. Oh, how the world has changed.

As I've said previously, I traveled frequently in the early 1980s as an aircraft loadmaster in the United States Air Force. For a young guy like me, this provided a great opportunity to see the world that I wouldn't have otherwise had. Many of our trips would take us to one of the several large Military Airlift Command (MAC) bases in Europe and, upon arriving in one of these great places, I would always want to see the sights. Most of the other enlisted crew members were only interested in finding the nearest bar, which just wasn't for me. So, I would frequently tag along with the officers who were much more inclined to be tourists. The officers were generally more established in life than I was so, many times, they would even let me ride in their rental car for free.

One such opportunity came when our crew stopped at Rhein Main Air Base near Frankfurt, Germany. After arriving at our hotel, I overheard the officers talking about going on a volksmarch in nearby Ansbach. A volksmarch, they explained, was a sort of walking tour and was very common in Germany. As I frequently did, I asked if I could go along and they agreed. The next day the officers rented a car from near the adjacent civilian airport and we all piled in. The car was a very small Alfa Romeo Alfasud like this one:



There were five of us, which means there must have been at least one other enlisted guy with us as we never carried that many officers (I can't remember who any of them were). I remember sitting in the middle of the very tight back seat. It wasn't comfortable but it was a small price to pay for the opportunity to explore Germany! Once we arrived in Ansbach, we proceeded to a sort of check-in area where we were given a map of the volksmarch and then just started walking. We walked through the city, the beautiful countryside, a small town and even a forest. The march was 10 kilometers of pure enjoyment. I loved seeing all the varied sights in such a short walk and the weather was perfect. When we finished, we were given a participation medal which, unfortunately, I have since lost.

After the walk it was time for the five of us to pile into the car again and head back to reality. The little overloaded Alfa was nearly maxed out as we zoomed down the autobahn at about 90 mph which, even at that speed, made us one of the slowest cars on the road. Just before we reached the airport, there was a loud bang. I looked behind us in time to see a cloud of smoke coming from the car as our speed slowed dramatically. At this point I was really glad my name wasn't on that rental contract! The officer driving just kept going, although much more slowly as the car couldn't regain its previous speed. At the airport he parked the car, returned the keys and we left without him telling them what had happened. I never heard if there were any consequences for this but, the following day, we boarded our aircraft and disappeared.