(click on photos to enlarge)
On November 2nd, Tim Rushlow, Nathan Westbeld, Geno “Mysterio” Mulcahy & I boarded the United States Navy C-9 headed for an adventure like non other. Our ‘orders’ tucked into our passports; our “mission” to entertain our troops in parts of the world many will only see on the evening news. Our first leg of travel took us to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania where we would stop for refueling and take on a new flight crew who would carry us to the other side of life as we knew it. “Rushlow” was accompanied by the new young band “Gloriana” and their crew.
None of this trip would be possible without Karen Fritz and her assistants Nilya Carrato & Mark “Chico” DiCicco.
The C-9 is a modified Boeing 737. By modified, I mean it has about half the seats of the typical 737 in the rear and has a cargo area in the front with a large cargo bay door in the side of the aircraft. It’s the size of a 737-700 series but has the gear, wings & engines of the 800 series. It’s a stout machine! With our load and speeds it would get about five hours maximum fly time so we made numerous refueling stops to get to our “base of operation” at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain.
Our first refueling stop was to be St. John’s, Newfoundland. However, shortly after take off, the pilots noticed that our #2 engine was surging all gauges. This is not a good thing obviously and they wisely decided to put down in Goose Bay, Newfoundland. After several phone calls to “ops” the pilots informed us that we where grounded for the night. They arranged rooms for us in one of the many unused barracks at the nearly deserted “5 Wing” air base of the Royal Canadian Air Force. We hoped that we would only be there for a little while so, in order to avoid the whole hassle of going through Canadian customs and immigration we left all of our luggage and gear on the plane. We would spend 24 surreal hours here “on hold” until a new aircraft could arrive from Pennsylvania.
On day 2: We head to the galley for breakfast and then walk about three quarters of a mile through a cutting 30 degree wind to the small base exchange store for toothbrushes and tooth paste. Our destination is the heat of the middle east. Our clothing reflects it.
The sun set as we finally loaded a bus and went back to the airstrip. After takeoff we cut north into the arctic circle headed for our next stop of Shannon, Ireland. I wrote previously about the northern lights but I must say once more; stunning!
Our plane in Shannon, Ireland
A short stop for refueling gave us enough time to enjoy a true Irish pint of the creamiest Guinness money can buy! We reboarded the plane and proceeded to the south over the Alps and then over the Mediterranean Sea. The pilots were kind enough to let me come into the cockpit and they pointed out the Swiss Alps to the left; French Alps to the right; Italian Alps ahead. The Matterhorn and more. Dazzling!
After what seemed like a short nap we arrived in Sigonella, Sicily, Italy to drop off a few troops who had been with us thus far and to refuel. Flying into Sicily in the morning is a beautiful experience. The olive and blood orange groves; the vineyards and farms are exactly as you would imagine “classic Italy” countryside would look. Old buildings that must have easily seen 200 years of world history. Walking out of the old airport for a look around from the sidewalk I saw buildings that seemed as though they would have only dated back to around the second World War. But I could just imagine that this is very close to what my grandfather saw when he stood here as a young man traveling from base to base during his deployment in Italy with the U.S. Air Force. An hour later we were refueled and on our 4 hour flight to Bahrain.
Day 3: Our first show was scheduled to be the Naval Air Station in Bahrain. However, we had the unexpected 24 hour delay in Goose Bay so that show would get rescheduled to keep us on track with other travel plans. We left the hotel right at sunrise with just an overnight bag. One set of clothes and show clothes. On many of our “overnights” we had to pack light leaving our big suitcases with the concierge of the hotel in Bahrain. At the NAS we had breakfast and got a safety briefing about our C-2 Greyhound COD (carrier onboard delivery) flight out to our first ship show. My favorite part of the briefing was when they told us not to worry if something is leaking and dripping on you in the plane. Worry when it stops. Say something to the flight crew because “that means we’ve run out of something we need…”. Wha?!??!! Trust me, I will; I thought. We had some spare time before the flight and got to have a look at some U.S. Navy Nighthawk choppers. The Army calls them Blackhawk helicopters.
We put on our brain-buckets and horse-collars and got into the C-2 and made the hour long flight into the middle of the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Iran. Landing on an aircraft carrier with the tail-hook is called an “arrested landing” or a “trap“. I call it a BLAST! There is no rollercoaster ride that can compare to that feeling. There are no windows in the plane and you are facing the rear of the aircraft. You get a “heads-up” from the flight crew about a minute before you actually hit the deck and catch the hook, but you don’t know exactly when it will happen.
We were greeted like royalty aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Captain of the ship John Alexander and Admiral of the Strike Group Mark Guadagnini were incredible hosts along with all of their staff. We were allowed onto the flight deck to observe flight ops which is something extremely rare for anyone, much less civilians! We stood maybe 15 feet away from F-18A Super Hornets as they catapulted from the deck of the Lincoln into the air at a rate of 0 to 180 mph in less than 3 seconds. It rattled me to the core. The heat; the force of the winds; the raw unbridled power is something you have to experience in person to truly appreciate. The skill involved in landing on the “3rd wire” with a tail hook is unparalleled.
Day 6: At this point, we’re starting to lose track of what day it is. At breakfast, a Petty Officer said “we're having pancakes; it's Monday… ”. They are down to telling the day of week by the food on the menu. To us this meant it was Monday November 8th.
We saw more of the ship and personally visited with hundreds more of the ship’s crew. We participated in the XO’s morning announcements and went up to the bridge to have a bird’s-eye view of the entire ship and it’s flight ops. Then, our second take-off from an aircraft carrier. Equally as exhilarating as the first!!.
We had been using two of these C-2 Greyhounds up until now. One for people & luggage; one for guitars & gear. Today, however, one of our C-2’s had been called away for mission. This left us with a logistic problem. The flight back to Bahrain would be 3 and half hours. The one COD plane could not take us and return to the ship for our gear and make it back in time for us to make our next flight out in the morning for Africa. The solution: don’t take us to Bahrain… we flew 1 hour to Oman. The exact location remains “sensitive” and that’s all I can say about it.
The C-2 then returned to the HST, got our gear and headed for Bahrain. We waited for about an hour in Oman and the Admiral’s Gulf Stream G-20 came to our rescue! We flew in plush style from Oman to Bahrain and met our gear there. It was, in a word, “sweet”.
We hit the bed early for another early wake-up call.
Day 7: Today is November 9th, 2010. My beautiful daughter’s 17th birthday. When I first found out about this tour and the days I would be gone I called Meredith and explained. I told her about the tour and where we were going and why. She understood and thought that it was a good thing. I also apologized to here in advance that this may be the first time ever I have not gotten to be with her, or at least call her on her birthday. I was feeling a bit guilty and sad about that. She assured me that she was okay with it and understood the reasons why. I finished by telling her; “If, by chance, I do get to call on your birthday I’ll be calling you from Djibouti”. Her response was; “…heh-heh; you said ‘Djibouti’…”. That’s my girl!
Seriously, Djibouti, Africa is an experience that stands out for us all. There are no words to describe the conditions we saw there. We flew into the American base and then had to bus over to the Djibouti airport (leaving the base) to clear immigration. The base is a textbook example of a temporary military installation in a Malaria zone of Africa. Tents, armored vehicles, portable housing that resemble train cars stacked on each other. No Club Med by any means, but live able. But once we left base things changed… dramatically. Djibouti is destitute, poor, starving, suppressed and heartbreaking. Trash for as far as the eye can see. Emaciated people sleeping under trees and on sidewalks literally wasting away. An 80% AIDS rate and 99% poverty rate. Families living in little more than cardboard boxes everywhere. The government of Djibouti receives millions of dollars from the United States in assistance. And the government of Djibouti keeps it. Those dollars never get close to street level. What does get to the people is a psychotropic drug called Khat. It is distributed from roadside booths at nearly every corner that look like an American kid’s homemade lemonade stand. Khat is provided free and encouraged by the government to desensitize the people. Keeping them high and artificially suppressing their hunger with this drug, the government assures that they will blissfully starve in the streets while they add on to their opulent palaces. It’s pitiful; simply pitiful.
Back on base we kicked things into high gear! Gloriana had been having problems with band members not feeling well. One crew member missed the first show; one band member missed the second show and another played but could not sing. Our guys are old road dogs and nothing stops us. For this third show we peeled the paint off the walls of the on-base club, “11 Degrees North” (latitude of the base). After the show we had an incredible meet-n-greet autograph/photo session with members of all U.S. branches of service as well as members of the Australian, Japanese militaries and the French Foreign Legion.
Day 8: Instead of returning to Bahrain for a night off, we boarded a plane bound for the Air Force base of Al Udeid, Qatar. I call it “the sandbox”. A fairly modern permanent base it still has it’s challenges. Living conditions are tough. Showering and going to the restroom; really tough. Pray for these guys & girls serving in Qatar. That’s all I’ll say.
On this day Gloriana’s lead singer has lost his voice and the girls in the band don’t feel well. They cancel their show. Rushlow feels like a million bucks! We double the length of our show and add an hour long rehearsal with Gloriana’s bass player, Zack Brindisi, to sit in with us. Zack has become a friend in the last week and feels fine. He wants to play! We played a show that killed!! 1,500 troops lined up to the back of the tent they called “The Bra” for autographs afterwards and we stayed until the wee hours visiting with every single one. It was a magical night of music, smiles and laughter in a place that had not seen any of those in a long while.
Our flight out of Qatar was mid-day the next day and that meant that we could actually sleep as long as we wanted. And we did!! I’ll bet we all slept 8 hours or more.
Day 9: It’s only a short flight to Bahrain. Less than an hour. We get to the base, then the hotel and take an hour or so to get ready for the night’s “make-up show” in Bahrain. It’s Veteran’s Day. I can not think of a better way to spend it than thanking our men & women of the armed forces for their service to our country. Our stage is set up in the courtyard of the BX. It’s a fairly modern permanent base and this space resembles the quad of a small college. We had a lively crowd that included the flight crew that brought us over from the states and would take us home again. We had rejoined old friends and found new ones. Zach had so much fun with us in Qatar that he played with us again and kicked tail!! Everyone thought that it was our best show yet and I agreed.
On day 10 we struck out for Italy. There was a squadron that was looking for a flight to Kuwait and we were obliged to give them a lift and have a look as well. We were only there for a few minutes but as we landed the cement bunkers from days gone by were obvious. It was here that Sadam Hussien had taken Kuwait during the first gulf war and it was here that American forces repelled his aggression. The bunkers still bare the scars of the American bombs that pierced them.
Leaving Kuwait, the pilots invited me into the cockpit to watch them work. I would have never imagined that I would be in the cockpit of a C-9 with the pilots as we lifted off the ground from Kuwait. How insane is that?!? I still can’t believe it, but it’s true. I was there. I saw it with my own two eyes….
Five hours later I am in the cockpit with our pilots as we fly past Mt. Etna at sunset on our approach into Sigonella, Sicily, Italy…. PINCH ME!!!!
In Italy, we are thrilled to see the lush countryside. We haven’t seen a blade of grass in days and days. Just sand and landscapes that look like dried ocean floors. This is sheer beauty. As we taxi in to our “parking spot”, notice the stage for our show being set up in the hangar to the left:
Day 11: We are a little disappointed that our one free day off in Italy was burned by our delay in Newfoundland, but we still have a couple of hours to visit Catania, Sicily. We visited “Elephant Square”, the church there and the open-air market.
Our show went great and Gloriana seemed to be feeling good again. They pulled off a great show! More about this show below in the real-time blog entry…
Day 12: It’s time to head for home. We had a little time yesterday to do some souvenir shopping for family in Italy and now it’s time to find a place to pack all that stuff and get it on the plane. We proceed back across the Mediterranean Sea and over the Alps to Shannon, Ireland. Once in Ireland we do a little more shopping and we can NOT leave without an order of “fish-n-chips” to go… Four hours later we land in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It’s mid afternoon and we are getting sleepy. We checked in to the Murray Premises Hotel and enjoyed a fine meal across the street at Yellow Belly’s. Because it was Sunday, I tried to find the NASCAR race on TV in my room. No luck; but a lot of guys found their favorite American football games to watch. We haven’t seen “real TV” in nearly two weeks! A good night’s rest tonight with a leisurely wake-up call time of 5am.
Day 13: The original plan was to fly from St. John’s to Pennsylvania to Nashville. However, it would be better for three of our bunch to fly into Andrews Air Force Base in D.C. and get home from there, so we give it try. No luck. Andrews has zero visibility and we are forced to Pax River (sp?), Maryland. Karen (our tour manager), Nylia (her asst.) and Geno (Rushlow sound genious) are let off in Maryland. The rest of us go on to Nashville.
Flying into Nashville we are met with clouds and fog laying close to the ground. Commercial pilots may wave off, but we have Navy pilots! They have “toys” most planes don’t and we have the most flawless, smooth landing ever right back here at home.
It’s been two weeks since we have laid eyes on our beautiful wives and we are ready to see them. My wife met me with loving eyes and a happy smile. Tim’s wife and beautiful kids were there and Nathan’s wife and two lively boys rounded out our welcoming party. It was good to be home.
_take special note_
Home. Never ever take it for granted. We have just seen guys and girls who sacrifice being in their homes so that you can be safe in yours. Thank God for them every day at every meal and pray that He blesses them with protection and sanity. They are in places that most people would not tolerate ten minutes for months and even years on end. They don’t do it to “see the world”. That’s why you go on a cruise. They don’t do it for a paycheck. That’s why you go to work for Wal-Mart or UPS. They don’t do it for glory. They are the unknown masses… They do it for you. They do it for America. They serve in places that are hostile to America so that Americans may never know hostility or fear.
Freedom truly is not free. It is paid for by these outstanding men and women and their families and their children. What we have done as a band is one very small act to say “thanks” for an immensely huge act on their part every day and every night. If given the chance, we’ll do it again.
God bless our troops. God bless our allies. God bless the poor people of Djibouti and other countries that don’t have troops to defend them. God bless you and God bless America.
Thank You,
David Allen - Tim Rushlow - Nathan Westbeld - Geno Mulcahy
P.S.- Chico is the man!!
Stay tuned... "Rushlow Overseas; The Movie" coming soon....
