With 43 days till my Coast Guard retirement, todays 20 Years a Coastie hits on somthing all too familiar in the Military. The Boondoggle. Now, understand, this is not some kind of straight up abuse of government resources. This is more like Hey, we gotta fly for X number of hours fot training, so lets go get lunch in Key west or We got a request from Such & Such Elementary School for a Static Display, so instead of working at the unit, today were gonna fly there and hang out with them. Over the years, I have had a bunch of great Boondoggles. Its not all SAR and LE, so theres that, and although many of them are technically for training, they are much more fun than an average pattern beater, flying circles around the same old airport. One of my favorite was while I was stationed at Air Station Houston on March 10, 2004. I loaded up in the helo with the CO, LT Paul Lalacata, and a fellow AMT2 by the name of Marty Green, and we flew up to Grand Prairie, TX. There, we took a tour of the stateside factory of the company who makes the H-65 Helicopter that we fly Eurocopter, USA, and hung out with one of the Coasties who was TAD there, LCDR Boughouas. For us, it was the equivalent of a Mustang owner going to the Ford Factory and seeing the product line where his 5.0 rolled out. All kinds of awesomeness was around every corner, from stripped down Training helos, all the way through the Redskins Company helo, which was getting a fresh coat of paint. One particular table of interest for Marty and I was a whole table full of Tail Rotor Blades, all painted up and ready for use. For those fellow Mechs out there who remember the Tail Blade shortage back then, you can imagine for us, it was like the kids walking into Willy Wonkas Chocolate Room. He and I shared a look that was along the lines of You distract em, Ill grab all I can and make a run for it.. To this day, it was one of the coolest tours I have ever had. Upon reviewing my Logbooks, I came across a whole bunch of awesome flights I had. Here is a little list of some of those great boondoggles, along with the crewmembers I had them with. Hope for some of yall, recognizing your names brings back the memories of awesome flights as much for you as it did for me. March 9, 1999 School Static w/ Tim Grimes, Scott Weaver, and James Bogert. It was my first Static Display, and we did this really cool thing on the flight home. The school had a kid who had a disease that occasionally confined him to home. Apparently, he was a HUGE military helicopters enthusiast, and was part of the reason they asked us to be there. Unfortunately, the day of the event, he was unable to leave his house, and missed us. So, as a crew, we decided to give this kid a treat. The school arranged it with his parents to bring him on his front driveway, and we did a few low flybys and dropped a Message Block to him with a special note telling him we hope he feels better and to come visit us at the unit any time. It was really one of those That was a good thing, moments for us. Overflight on June 14, 1999 for VP Al Gore w/ Brian Diven & Kurt Richter, which led to VIP Lunch at Antoines, one of the nicer restaurant in NOLA. I was (by far) the junior most guy in a room of 40 or so, that included the NOLA Cheif of Police, the District Cheif of the Secret Service, and the local head of the FBI. VIP flight in December of 2001 to the CGC Dauntless for a Vice-Admiral (LANT AREA, I think) and his Command Master Chief. The great thing about this flight was that, while the Admiral (and my Pilots) were hobnobing with the Officers in the Wardroom, I was hanging with the ships crew on the Mess Deck. The Non-Rates were asking all about what it was like in Aviation and the like, when the Master Chief comes in. He kinda hangs back, until a First Class notices him, and tries to get him to take over the group conversation. He, in what was one of the most humble moments I have seen from a Senior Leader, said These guys would rather hear from this AMT2 than me, and just sat back and listened in. After the flight, and after he changes out of his flight suit and into his Trops, he Coined me (gave me his personal Coin) and told me to keep preaching the good word. It was then I noticed his Aircrew Wings. Pretty cool moment, for both of us, I think. Flying Secretary Ridge around the Port of Houston in June of 2004 with the CO and David (or was it John) Scott. The flight itself wasnt the boondoggle, rather the lunch I earned from my Maintenance Cheif, who told me if I just flew, and didnt ask the Secretary of Homeland Security if he wanted some unsolicited advice on how to run things, he would buy me lunch. I almost didnt make it. ;) March 2nd and 3rd of 2007, I had an AWESOME 2 day Air Show in Vero Beach with LT Parsons and LT Presnell. It was awesome because we (the Coast Guard helo) was the only Military aircraft that showed up, and we were treated like kings for the day by them. Normally, at an Air Show, the Coast Guard takes a big back seat to Navy F-14s and the like. That day, WE were Maverick, Goose, and Iceman. On Sep 24th of 2008 I flew to Freeport with the CO of Air Sta Miami and LT Christopher Hulser for a SOUTHCOM meeting they were attending at the Embassy. Fully expecting I was gonna be one of those, Background people, I prepared to settle in for a nice free lunch where I was the Odd Man Out, not in a bad way, but big wigs talking big wig stuff usually doesnt need imputed from an Aircraft Mechanic. That was, until the Coast Guard Liaison pucked us up from the airport, and one LCDR Dave David Billburg, one of my favorite pilots from Air Station Houston was standing there. SOUTHCOM meeting went as expected, but the lunch with an old buddy at an ocean side restaurant in the Caribbean stands to this day as one of my favorite ROLs. In October, 2010, the Navy League in Memphis was having an Air Show, and I was part of the crew who flew up there from the 6th-8th to represent the Coast Guard, along with LT Mitchell, LT Lamb, and AST3 Michael Baierski. We had an awesome couple of days eating our weight in BBQ and being treated to a pretty nice party and Fundraising Event up there. As a way of showing my appreciation to them for being good hosts, I donated a set of 3 Coast Guard Coins (Air Sta NOLA, HH-65, and a Coast Guard) to their silent auction. I think this made the organizers feel a bit closer to us than your average Air Show Det, and we formed a tighter community bond with them than I think we otherwise would have. December 11, 2010 became the first of an annual flight for me in an outfit other than my Flight Suit. Through a long and funny series of events having to do with an upgrade for one of our junior mechanics, I found myself wearing the Red and White, and flying all around the city with LT Mark Lanore and LT Craig Johnston, and AST3 Brian Johnson, waving to the French Quarter dressed as Santa, culminating in the Air Station New Orleans Childrens Christmas party. It was a pretty fun experience for everyone, and dont worry, no one told the kids that Nacho Clause (see photo) was really Jewish (although we all got a good kick out of it. On April 13th, 2011 I was part of a 3 or 4 plane fly in at Bay Mannette airport in Alabama. The airport there is manned by a bunch of girls who are dressed like they should be working in the local Hooters, rather than servicing aircraft. It was kinda cool, but what I really enjoyed was being able to see an awesome Pilot whom I really enjoyed worked with back in New Orleans around 99-01, one LCDR Tina Urban, (now Tina Pena). January 9th, 2014, I flew from ATC Mobile, AL into New Orleans, where I hopped in a courtesy car from Lakefront Airport and headed to Dragos for charbroiled oysters, shrimp, and lobster for lunch with LCDR Shay Williams LT Chapman, and AET1 Adam Mendez. It was one of those awesome lunches where we all thought Man, flying to NOLA for a lobster and BBQ shrimp lunch! This job rocks! Well, only 3 of us thought that, as Mr. Williams foolishly ordered The Chicken. ;)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:57:50 +0000