1985 101st / MFO

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Posted on 12/12/2024 5:26:17 AM PST by Feckless

On this day in 1985 I climbed aboard an ill fated Arrow Air DC8 Stretch at McChord AFB with a fresh gamma globulin shot in my ass (if you've ever had one you know) and 10 inches of snow on the ground, embarking on an adventure that would be both fun, exciting, and tragic. We spent 35 hours on that POS, several landings for re-fueling but they never let us off, and finally landed in Cairo. It was over 100 degrees in the shade... had there been any shade. They marched us into the terminal where we were fed a tablespoonful of scrambled eggs, a slice of fried goat and 4 French fries. Four French fries that were so soggy you could have tied them in knot without breaking them. Four. I'm bitching now but at the time I had just got off of a 35 hour flight eating MREs and the goat was pretty good.

The Egyptians claimed the runway at Sharm el Sheik, our final destination, was under repair and would not handle the DC8. Just milking Uncle Sam for more money in this boondoggle who’s only reason for existing was to keep Egypt from committing suicide by attacking Israel again. Thank you Jimmy Carter. They moved us onto an Egypt Air 737 and we took off like a C130 leaving Da Nang... straight up. After we reached cruising altitude the plane banked hard right, dove for several hundred feet and banked hard left. My fingerprints are still in the arm rests, I'm sure. We were told later that all Egypt Air pilots are Egyptian Air Force reserves and that this was "training". I asked how much training was required to go down in flames with an IAF missile up your ass, which is how most Egyptian pilots "retired". They were not amused.

We landed at the “airport” near Sharm el Sheik, loaded up in deuce and a halfs and rode the 10 miles to South Camp, our home for the next 6 months.

Two days later, 248 members of the 101st Airborne, who we were replacing crashed on takeoff after re-fueling at Gander, Newfoundland, killing all aboard. It was the same DC8 I rode to Egypt on. We got to know some of them pretty well in the 2 days of overlap where we had to get up to speed on operations quickly. Rest in Peace, Screaming Eagles.

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1 posted on 12/12/2024 5:26:17 AM PST by Feckless

To: Feckless

2 posted on 12/12/2024 5:27:58 AM PST by Feckless (The US Gubbmint / This Tagline CENSORED by FR \ IrOnic, ain't it?)

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