The Mission - also a thanks to FT
Dec 14, 2006 | 1:39 pm
#1
Original Poster
In Memoriam
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Always on vacation
Programs: aa exp - spg gold - Hyatt Diamond - HH Gold
Posts: 6,007
The Mission - also a thanks to FT
Not sure if this should have gone in Trip Report but those whom I've personally met on FT and whom I consider friends post in this forum. Felt this was the best place to let everyone know who was interested on what was what.
Yesterday 4:45pm I'm sitting in a bus on the flight line with the med-techs of the 60th Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF) at Travis AFB on their mission for the day. We are watching a USAF C-22 pulling up with a painting of "The Ghost Riders" on the side of the nose. On the plane is Sgt. magic111 jr. who is being transferred from Landstuhl Medical Center, Germany to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and although many emotions are flowing through my mind and body I'm mostly relieved that he is not a ghost.
On Sunday upon returning from the PBI DO found a message from my son on the phone that he had been injured in Iraq and now was in Germany. Waited until it was morning in Germany and than called the number which was a direct line to his bedside. We talked for awhile and since he was on mucho meds he seem in a good mood. Said he had fractured his knee leaping across a canal.
He had not been operated on yet because the operations were based on triage and he was #3 on the list. He thought that he would be transferred back to his command unit in Hawaii but wasn't sure and said I should wait until I heard from him on whether to go to Germany or not.
This being FT on Monday night I'm off on a MR to ORD but since I haven't heard from him I begin calling during every connection (thanks to Tom911 for use of his MCI calling card) but still no answer. Got home Tuesday night try calling Germany again but no answer. I call again Wednesday morning and someone answers the phone and says my son has been transferred to the states. This must have happened almost immediately post-op.
Call his sister who had received a phone call from him while he was on a layover in Maryland and that he would be transitting Travis AFB in Fairfield, CA about 1750 and she thought that he would like to visit with someone. I'm fully in agreement with that thought. In addition she has gotten hold of someone at the 60th ASF about the fact that family members can have short visits with the patients and so I'm off to Fairfield and than run into the civilians who run the visitor center at Travis.
Turns out that the only way you can get on the base is with someone who has a DoD identification. So I have them call the med-techs at the 60th and they get me onto the base. Knew it was going to be a hassle but wasn't expecting so much. Everyone is saying I'm going to have to wait 3 hours but in this case the amount of waiting is irrelevant. They allow me to use the patient lounge and I sit down to watch TV for a couple of hours.
About an hour later one of the med-techs pops their head in and says the bus will be leaving in 10 minutes as the flight is early. Means also that I will get a longer time to visit as the other flight is still leaving at the scheduled time. Glad I decided to go early what with the getting into the air base and the early flight arrival.
As the plane's engine whine down a large door opens on the side where normally passengers would disembark and than a truck much like the ones which delivers food to a commercial plane, although larger, pulls up. The med techs go up and than unload the non-ambulatory patients into the waiting truck with what I thankfully observe is a lot more care than is used with food carts. Truck lowers, patients are transferred to the bus by the med-techs and their stretchers are fixed to the inside of the bus with hooks and cable at waist-height.
Although I'm still not allowed to go to the back of the bus yet my son turns his head and gives me a great big smile which I return. In retrospect it is just as moving as my first look at him when he was born.
After a couple of what seems like minutes but most likely was less than one the doctor on the mission finally allows me to go back to his bedside and sit on a folded down seat at his head.
We talk about the operation, he shows me photo copies of the x-rays pre and post-op. The patella had broken away from the joint and flipped around 180 degrees. All I can think to say is "that must have hurt". One tendon had torn but the surgeon informed him that they repaired it without using anything from other parts of his body. I let him know that the rehab is important and remind him of what I did after open-heart surgery. Especially when he starts asking the nurse for another morphine shot.
I inform him that enquiring minds want to know what happened he tells me and than also informs me that he had been shot a couple of months earlier, a clean hit on the side plate of his body armor. Ends the story with "Its real dangerous there" I mention something about luck, cats and Ned Kelly but let me tell you that hearing it from your offspring brings a more vivid picture into one's mind than watching the news.
After about 35 minutes it is time for the transfer to the next plane and I give him Volume one of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson Quicksilver and remind him that it appears he will have plenty of time to read it and that I'll bring Volumes two and three when I come visit in January. We hug each other and than it is out of the way for me as the med-techs take his strecher and begin the process of transferring him back to the plane. At the last possible moment we exchange thumbs up
I head back to the Hospital with the med-techs and one patient who will be staying until there is a flight that he can take to Alaska. After a few minutes while the members of the 60th ASF wind down after the mission one of the women who is going off duty offers to take me back to my car outside the base. Let me say thanks to the members of the 60th ASF who facilitated this visit.
OK thanks for following along with me to here. Those of you who have met me know that I can get kinda long winded and especially when any emotions are at a critical level. I will state emphatically I LOVE FT for what I've learned here over the years about travel and more importantly last minute travel.
Thanks to FT is that with what has been learned here I realized that I had access to miles if neccessary to take last minute flights if neccessary. But even more importantly my son-in-law and I were able to find last minute flights on UA that left this morning for less than $300 sfo-hnl and his mother and sister are on the flights. About $500 less than what they will be starting tomorrow for the next two weeks.
Wish I could be announcing about a grandchild being born or some such other thing but anyways muchos gracias a todas!
Yesterday 4:45pm I'm sitting in a bus on the flight line with the med-techs of the 60th Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF) at Travis AFB on their mission for the day. We are watching a USAF C-22 pulling up with a painting of "The Ghost Riders" on the side of the nose. On the plane is Sgt. magic111 jr. who is being transferred from Landstuhl Medical Center, Germany to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and although many emotions are flowing through my mind and body I'm mostly relieved that he is not a ghost.
On Sunday upon returning from the PBI DO found a message from my son on the phone that he had been injured in Iraq and now was in Germany. Waited until it was morning in Germany and than called the number which was a direct line to his bedside. We talked for awhile and since he was on mucho meds he seem in a good mood. Said he had fractured his knee leaping across a canal.
He had not been operated on yet because the operations were based on triage and he was #3 on the list. He thought that he would be transferred back to his command unit in Hawaii but wasn't sure and said I should wait until I heard from him on whether to go to Germany or not.
This being FT on Monday night I'm off on a MR to ORD but since I haven't heard from him I begin calling during every connection (thanks to Tom911 for use of his MCI calling card) but still no answer. Got home Tuesday night try calling Germany again but no answer. I call again Wednesday morning and someone answers the phone and says my son has been transferred to the states. This must have happened almost immediately post-op.
Call his sister who had received a phone call from him while he was on a layover in Maryland and that he would be transitting Travis AFB in Fairfield, CA about 1750 and she thought that he would like to visit with someone. I'm fully in agreement with that thought. In addition she has gotten hold of someone at the 60th ASF about the fact that family members can have short visits with the patients and so I'm off to Fairfield and than run into the civilians who run the visitor center at Travis.
Turns out that the only way you can get on the base is with someone who has a DoD identification. So I have them call the med-techs at the 60th and they get me onto the base. Knew it was going to be a hassle but wasn't expecting so much. Everyone is saying I'm going to have to wait 3 hours but in this case the amount of waiting is irrelevant. They allow me to use the patient lounge and I sit down to watch TV for a couple of hours.
About an hour later one of the med-techs pops their head in and says the bus will be leaving in 10 minutes as the flight is early. Means also that I will get a longer time to visit as the other flight is still leaving at the scheduled time. Glad I decided to go early what with the getting into the air base and the early flight arrival.
As the plane's engine whine down a large door opens on the side where normally passengers would disembark and than a truck much like the ones which delivers food to a commercial plane, although larger, pulls up. The med techs go up and than unload the non-ambulatory patients into the waiting truck with what I thankfully observe is a lot more care than is used with food carts. Truck lowers, patients are transferred to the bus by the med-techs and their stretchers are fixed to the inside of the bus with hooks and cable at waist-height.
Although I'm still not allowed to go to the back of the bus yet my son turns his head and gives me a great big smile which I return. In retrospect it is just as moving as my first look at him when he was born.
After a couple of what seems like minutes but most likely was less than one the doctor on the mission finally allows me to go back to his bedside and sit on a folded down seat at his head.
We talk about the operation, he shows me photo copies of the x-rays pre and post-op. The patella had broken away from the joint and flipped around 180 degrees. All I can think to say is "that must have hurt". One tendon had torn but the surgeon informed him that they repaired it without using anything from other parts of his body. I let him know that the rehab is important and remind him of what I did after open-heart surgery. Especially when he starts asking the nurse for another morphine shot.
I inform him that enquiring minds want to know what happened he tells me and than also informs me that he had been shot a couple of months earlier, a clean hit on the side plate of his body armor. Ends the story with "Its real dangerous there" I mention something about luck, cats and Ned Kelly but let me tell you that hearing it from your offspring brings a more vivid picture into one's mind than watching the news.
After about 35 minutes it is time for the transfer to the next plane and I give him Volume one of the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson Quicksilver and remind him that it appears he will have plenty of time to read it and that I'll bring Volumes two and three when I come visit in January. We hug each other and than it is out of the way for me as the med-techs take his strecher and begin the process of transferring him back to the plane. At the last possible moment we exchange thumbs up
I head back to the Hospital with the med-techs and one patient who will be staying until there is a flight that he can take to Alaska. After a few minutes while the members of the 60th ASF wind down after the mission one of the women who is going off duty offers to take me back to my car outside the base. Let me say thanks to the members of the 60th ASF who facilitated this visit.
OK thanks for following along with me to here. Those of you who have met me know that I can get kinda long winded and especially when any emotions are at a critical level. I will state emphatically I LOVE FT for what I've learned here over the years about travel and more importantly last minute travel.
Thanks to FT is that with what has been learned here I realized that I had access to miles if neccessary to take last minute flights if neccessary. But even more importantly my son-in-law and I were able to find last minute flights on UA that left this morning for less than $300 sfo-hnl and his mother and sister are on the flights. About $500 less than what they will be starting tomorrow for the next two weeks.
Wish I could be announcing about a grandchild being born or some such other thing but anyways muchos gracias a todas!
Last edited by magic111; Dec 24, 2010 at 4:09 pm Reason: spelling
Dec 14, 2006 | 1:51 pm
#2
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Marriott Employee Level
Posts: 31,593
Glad to hear that magic111 jr is recovering. Hope everything continues to go well in that regard. Please give him a hearty thanks for the service he does for our country. No matter what anyone thinks of the war itself, our service men and women deserve that. ^
Sincerely,
William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services
[email protected]
Sincerely,
William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services
[email protected]
Dec 14, 2006 | 2:13 pm
#4
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, AA 3.8MM, UA 1.1MM, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 31,849
Glad to hear your son is Hawaii bound, and that the trip you were looking at to Germany didn't have to happen. I'm sure all of us here on FT wish him a speedy recovery. Do keep us updated on his condition.
Dec 14, 2006 | 3:20 pm
#5
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 35,579
This brought tears to my eyes. What a relief it must have been to see him, after days of uncertainty and anxiety. Safe travels to Honolulu, and best wishes on a full recovery for your son.
Dec 14, 2006 | 6:37 pm
#6
In memoriam
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: TUS
Programs: AA 1.8 MM, DL, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold,
Posts: 3,430
magic111 ,
Thanks for sharing your story. I am happy your son is getting along with his recovery and all will be well. I'm sure it was a very emotional ordeal. All my best to your family.
Stu
Thanks for sharing your story. I am happy your son is getting along with his recovery and all will be well. I'm sure it was a very emotional ordeal. All my best to your family.
Stu
Dec 15, 2006 | 8:06 pm
#15
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: Delta Gold 1 MM
Posts: 2,711
glad it was comparatively minor
Sorry to hear about jr. You are correct that FT is a great resource. Hope you and Jerri are in good spirits. Open heart surgery??
40 years ago I departed said AFB on a Southern Air Transport 727 bound for Vietnam-I got off in Okinawa. Everyone else on the plane continued on. Bet you did not know that a 727 could fly trans-Pacific without ETOPs.
Please keep us informed.
40 years ago I departed said AFB on a Southern Air Transport 727 bound for Vietnam-I got off in Okinawa. Everyone else on the plane continued on. Bet you did not know that a 727 could fly trans-Pacific without ETOPs.
Please keep us informed.