Posted on Fri, Feb. 22, 2008
Air travel
Military travel relies on the civilian airline industry a great deal today. This isn't really new even though some aspects of travel are different today than they were when I first joined the Army. Without civilian air transportation, the military services would have difficulty carrying out their myriad missions today.
Civilian aircraft for many years have carried soldiers and their families to overseas assignments. A civilian 747 complete with flight attendants took me to and later from Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield and Storm. If you travel today you cannot help but see service men and women in uniform passing through airports all over the country.
My most memorable peacetime civilian air travel experience occurred when I was a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division. The Texas Army National Guard needed a few Airborne-qualified fire support officers for a weekend drill. Fourteen captains and lieutenants, including me, flew to Fort Hood, Texas. The most interesting part of the trip was the travel to and from Killeen, Texas. On the way through Dallas, we had our first indication that the trip would pose some special challenges.
As we were looking out the terminal window in Dallas, we saw several duffle bags being loaded on a flight to Mexico City, Mexico. We laughed about how upset somebody was going to be when their bags went to Mexico. Well, the "somebody" was us. Fortunately the bags showed up that night.
The really exciting event was when we went to the Killeen airport to leave in rain and fog after the weekend exercise. The plane held our group from Fort Bragg and one civilian. Just after we started taxiing away from the terminal, we stopped. An airport employee ran out and yelled inside that the plane was too heavy to take off, pulled the civilian off the plane, and closed the door. We then took off. You can imagine the thoughts running through the minds of a bunch of paratroopers without parachutes riding in a small plane in bad weather.
Many soldiers and contractors like me pass through the Columbus or Atlanta airports to reach Fort Benning and the Columbus area. I like to fly out of Columbus in order to avoid the long security lines in Atlanta and to avoid the 90 minute drive. The construction on I-85 over the last few months has made the drive to and from Atlanta sometimes very interesting as well. Unfortunately the price of a ticket sometimes forces me to Atlanta. Adding the extra air leg to such a trip also can be a risk because weather, limited schedules, and mechanical problems can result in a major travel disruption when something goes wrong. I hope with the increased military population that more options will be available to make airline service out of Columbus more available.
Air travel is a critical part of our lives today and certainly is such for our military personnel. It remains the transportation mode of choice for traveling great distances. We'll see more and more call for air travel out of Columbus with the standing up of the Maneuver Center. Air travel will not go away.
John M. House is a retired Army colonel who lives in Midland, Ga. His e-mail is housearmylife@aol.com.
