Okay, so we breathed easy when we found out that our youngest son wasn’t getting any closer to the superheated Middle East than Bahrain. That’s close enough, as far as I’m concerned, and we’re proud of him for helping keep the guys on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan as safe as they can be, under the circumstances. And we were delighted to get a text message on Monday that he was at that very moment boarding a plain bound for London. We talked with him after he spent 18 hours in London, he said he was leaving 9 p.m. Tuesday local time, didn’t know for sure where the next stop was, but that ultimately he was scheduled to touch down at Kaneohe Bay, at 7p.m. tonight Hawaii time. He said he’d text or call every chance he got.
Then, not a word. Haven’t heard from him for 24 hours. We’re worried. We called operations (G-3) at Kaneohe Bay a few minutes ago, described what and whom we were looking for, and the confident, official-sounding young man on the line said, “We’re expecting a flight in a little earlier than that, and they are on schedule.” He refused to discuss actual arrival times or other specifics, for obvious reasons, but made it clear he was expecting only one inbound flight tonight and confirmed again that “they” are on time.
They wouldn’t lie to us, would they? I mean, if the Navy is looking for a downed aircraft somewhere over the Pacific, would they actually say the flight was on schedule until they could be more certain?
If he’s flying military standby, any number of things could have happened to change his scheduled arrival, without putting him in any danger. If he’s not on the flight when it lands, it probably means he got bumped for some reason–and may be somewhere with no signal for his cell phone.
Given the attack in India, it’s possible he lost his seat to some investigator types heading over to help with that situation. No reason to worry at this point.
No news is good news I suppose. We will all be thinking of you, wishing and praying for the best. I’d listen to what Oakminster said. Keep us informed. If you need to vent further, this is the place for it.
We finally heard from ‘im. They diverted the plane to NAS Whidby Island for some kind of security thingamajig, they were all incommunicado for over eight hours. The guys all slept in the hangar until they were cleared to leave, left for Kaneohe at about 5:30 p.m. Seattle time. He got to call his wife and then us just minutes before they boarded. He said he’s gettin’ pretty sick of that aircraft. He should touch down in Hawaii about 8 p.m. there.
Honestly, I had tears in my eyes just hearing his voice. He was tired (all that sleep and jet lag is still killin’ him) and so very anxious to get home.
Oakminster, it was good to see you log on. Thanks so much to all of you guys.
And to everybody out there with loved ones overseas this week, especially in uniform and/or in service of our country, God bless you all. My sincerest prayer that they all return home safe and sound.