Midnight Madness
The middle of the night phone calls are always about bad news. The timing, usually occurring between 1 a.m. - 3 a.m., is impeccable and would make Academy Awards’ producers envious. At first during my deployment over here I was getting routine business calls from Air Force units back in the United States. We had a communication problem. They thought I was working in a 24/7 cell–which I do. But they also thought I was only one of several people in the cell–which I am not. It’s just me working these aircraft “issues”. I needed to let all the agencies know that these calls were for emergencies only. So after I spread this fact faster than a photo of Brittany Spears exiting a vehicle, I began to get fewer non-emergency phone calls in the middle of the night.
The real emergencies I get calls about involve aircraft with malfunctions (engine failure or tailhook inop), medical evacuations (MEDIVACS), or poor weather that causes these aircraft to divert to/from other locations in the Middle East. Aside from just waking up and being happy to have found the phone in my dark room, I then deal with people on the other end of the call who are often very anxious. I remember speaking with a very young, excitedly nervous, sailor who had a stroke victim on one of our USN ships that needed immediate MEDIVAC. Best thing I can do is stay calm and hope it rubs off on to them. Sometimes it works and I can hear the relief in their voice when I tell them that I’ll take over the coordination for them. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Regardless of what the circumstance is that causes a middle of the night call, it’s always time critical. During my younger days prior to pilot training, I worked in a Command Post and had to wake up senior leadership with bad news. Now it’s my turn to be on the receiving end. I used to wonder how people could be woken up in the middle of the night with bad news and have to make decisions on the spot. Now I know.
After I get the bad news it’s my job to coordinate with the host nation and get them to make things happen RIGHT NOW. There’s no time for me to contact my translator, “David”, at his house. Most of the host nation folks that I deal with have some sort of aviation background and that helps. I try to keep everything in simple aviation terms and stress the urgency. Not once during my 3 and 1/2 months have I received any problems from our host nation on these immediate requests. They’ve come through for us every time and I know that has saved lives.
So, although these middle of the night phone calls will not be missed when I journey back home I do know that they’ve been some of the most rewarding and important part of my duties in the desert.
Patrick
Today’s Chuck Norris “fact”: Chuck Norris can blow bubbles with beef jerky.
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