An Airman, An NCO and An SNCO

You know what? I thought that taking up this special assignment would be a great experience to tell the eventual grandkids but life tends to act as a boomerang and smash your face, leaving a busted lip as a reminder for what you did. But this time said lip required both staples and stitches. Let me explain what happened to catch you up to speed.

Being a Crew Chief has its ups and downs but it all depends about how you handle things. When I was offered that "Top Secret" assignment for the crew and I well, let's just say that we didn't expect this. Most of us, including myself, thought that we would be installing this new hardware to a plane that we knew like the back of our hands. Nope, not even close.

Our job was to make sure that the aircraft could handle the little extra weight and see if the hardware would mess with anything critical to the aircraft's safety and performance. After a week of running these little "tests" the craft was declared safe enough to have a go in the testing grounds. Of course that meant that we had to do one last extensive run to make sure, once again, the jet was okay. And after the final test the plane was taxied onto the tarmac. I followed the craft outside and just stood right outside the hangar.

After scanning the airfield I saw the airfield crew senior outside to make sure the runway was pristine for the flight. She was a woman that showed her age through her wits not so much through the skin, but it was noticeable. Her name was Farlow, Senior Master Sergeant Farlow, though if you knew her for a while she would let you call her Katie. I found some of myself within her mannerisms towards her airmen. Just like her I would let my crew call me by my first name, Robert, but some of the fresh troops would call me sergeant Johnson. Don't get me wrong it's okay for them to call me by rank but that didn't mean that I would feel comfortable about the rank. I would rather have my troops feel comfortable around their supervisor.

After the final test an Airman was discussing something about family matters that one of my troops were having to me. It was something about this being his first base and he has never been farther than a few miles away from family. I knew how that felt when I was an Airman over in Germany but one thing that my supervisor told me was that my family was always with me the entire time, my Air Force family. I told the airman to bring his friend over so I could talk to him. Once the troubled Airman came over I let him tell me what was going on. After he was done I told him about my past and the story my supervisor told me. It cheered him up more than it did to me back then which has a relief to me. Saying his thanks he headed back to the hangar to discuss what his friends will be doing over the weekend.

Smiling at the scene I turn around to see if anyone else needs anything but find out that everyone's inside the hangar now, except that cop staring you down. You do not know why but the cops always gave you the creeps whether it was from how they trained or how they recognized the superiors. It just didn't feel normal to me, it was strict and merciless with their rules. Kind of like the Army but with an Air Force nametape instead. But this one didn't give off that vibe as bad as the others do, he kind of looks like he would be one of my troops, if they had a blank face.

After a few more moments of the impromptu Mexican standoff he sends a wave my way. Might as well get on his good side. Returning the wave it looks like he nodded or something close to it and resumed whatever he was doing beforehand.

Turning around I hear a jet engine turn on and slowly crescendo in noise. With a smile on my face turning to look over to the edge of the runway a see the aircraft that your team was working on just sitting there, waiting for the tower to green light them. While this was going on I grabbed my ear muffs from my leg and placed them over my ears. After a few moments the huge metal bird slowly rolls down the tarmac.

"This is it," I mutter out loud to no one.

The craft picks up more speed and slowly starts to raise. Once the front wheel lifts off the ground I can see the jet's electronics start to glow as the pilot fiddles with the new technology. But something does not sit well with my gut. 'There better not be anything wrong with it, we did so many checks,' you thought.

And just as if Murphy's Law heard your thoughts the plane's electronics dies out for a few seconds then explodes in a giant ball of white light. Adverting my gaze to shield my eyes from the painful light but it proves worthless in saving pain on the eyesight. In fact, it makes it worse by allowing the pain to double every second. Somewhere I hear someone cursing out loud in pain as well, I tired to locate where it came from but I could not take the pain anymore and allowed sweet unconsciousness to claim me.

And that leads me to where I am at right now, still unconscious and confused as hell. Thankfully unconsciousness lets its grip on me go and wake to the conscious, painful world. A pained grunt escapes my lips as all of the nerves wake up along with me. Before I can even think all I can hear is the light clinking of metal-on-metal and then the feeling of something or someone shaking your shoulder. Letting out another grunt I take notice that the ground is cool and smooth upon my calloused hands. Out of confusion I asked whatever shook me what happened. The response is a young, but firm, voice saying that they don't know.

That worries me, that worries me enough to open an eye only to shut it with a hiss of pain escaping my lips. The young voice asks if I need help but all I can give him is another grunt. Geesh, with this amount of grunting I could pass for a professional tennis player. I hear someone else grunt and then the sound of boots moving away from me to the other tennis player. After a moment of letting my nerves calm down I try to open my eyes again, this time with success. Getting to a kneeling position I take a look around and find out a few problems. None of the familiar hangars are nowhere to be seen, only lush greenery and a mountain range surround you. And that I have been laying on a cobblestone road. Something shines from my peripherals so, of course, I turn towards it to satisfy my curiosity. I notice on one of the mountains that there's something shining on the side of it. A golden color is all I can see but the pain returns in my eyes after looking at the light for a few seconds.

Taking a deep breath I push myself up to see if there's anything else I can see from my newly elevated position. The answer that's given to me is a flat no but you do hear something off in the distance. It's sounds a bit like coconut shells hitting the floor but I am not sure about it. Taking notice of a grunt I look down to see a cop tending to an SNCO. Wait, what?

Doing a double take I notice that the cop is a young Airman First Class and the SNCO is a Senior Master Sergeant. Wait! Is that Katie?!

While my brain is having a midlife crisis the airman slowly helps Katie to her feet and then steps away from her and grabs something from his vest. A radio! That raises my spirits just by the mere sight of it!

"That can save us from where ever we are!" I think to myself.

The Airman says something to it and all that returns back is static. He tries again and again but fails with each try. He voice is still calm but his mannerisms betrays his calm demeanor.

Returning the radio back to his holster he takes a quick look upwards and says with his shoulders the one dreaded word.

"Shit."

If that's bad then whatever is making that coconut noise hopefully turns our luck around.

I mutter a quick prayer hoping that Murphy will not mess with you anymore.