Getting ready for home

October 18, 2006

Could it be Lame Duck Season already?

It seems like we just got here.

See, things are a little different these days.

Lt. Col. Mark Czelusta walks around in PT Gear (The name for official Air Force work-out clothes — shorts and a t-shirt). He's doing laundry, drinking coffee drinks and running for exercise. He talks about the triathlon season, his bicycle and how swimming is his strongest sport.

That may not seem odd to you, but let me explain.

Three days ago Czelusta was consumed with takeoff times, tail numbers, crew swaps, mission schedules, meetings and other commander-related stuff. Then along came Lt. Col. Tim Anderson.

Anderson took command of the 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron on Sunday, freeing Czelusta to head home. Now, Anderson has no time for much of anything but takeoff times, tail numbers ... yada, yada.

Leaving Iraq is not as simple as heading to an airline ticket counter, however.

Planes have to arrive here with replacements before others can leave.

So there's a lot of waiting. I call it the Lame Duck Season.

And it's not all that fun for the ducks, if you know what I mean. We're a part of that, too. We head home with Czelusta.

When? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

This morning in front of The Green Bean Coffee shop — I call it The Bean — Master Sgt. Pete Dibbern, Sr. Master Sgt. Steve Burt, Tech Sgt. Eric Pogue and Czelusta gathered in a little Lame Duck forum. Yep, we were there too.

Czelusta was doing laundry.

Pogue drank something called, "The Mother of all Coffees," and waited for, well, nothing. His replacement is here, so his room is packed with three people instead of the usual two. And his roommates are night fliers. So he tries to stay out of the room to let them sleep.

Dibbern and Burt were just hanging out, planning to play a little combat miniature golf later. They talked about the flight home, a three-day flight in a C-130 that takes coordination and logistical problem-solving.

As the discussion evolved, it turned into what I think of as the epitome of C-130ness.

Burt, a loadmaster by trade but the squadron superintendent for the Triple-7 here in Iraq, started running cargo numbers.

Czelusta, a pilot, and Pogue, an engineer, began talking fuel in thousands of pounds.

Fuel, cargo, weight. It's all a big C-130 balancing act. And it's fascinating.

They talk about the jet stream, headwinds and heading west. And you can see them perking up the more they talked about their plane, the workhorse, the Hercules.

They talk about fueling stops and crew rest, building pallets of duffle bags and home. Everything is in thousands of pounds and distance and time.

Then they talked about weight and fuel some more, the conversation always picking up speed with the topic. These calculations are fun.

It's time to pack and rest, adapting to the slower pace of home.

All of these guys have replacements on the ground, doing the jobs they've had for months now. And that's not an easy thing for them.

"The other day was the first day off I've had since I got here," Burt said. "It takes some getting used to."

Posted by editor at October 18, 2006 04:46 PM