We get on the bus and are heading to the airport when the hubby says look, lifting his shirt some to show me his brand new knife that he bought yesterday at Smoky Mountain Knife Works firmly attached to his jeans.

“Dude!”

“I forgot to tell you to remind me to leave it in the car,” he says. Ya think?!

“I really like this one too, but at least it’s not the USMC one I got.”

When he reaches the terminal he says he hasn’t seen any notice about not having it, as I stare at the big NO circle with a picture of a gun and knife stuck to the airport door. I just pointed at the door and then the garbage can.

“Be thankful you only paid twelve bucks!”

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Once we meet the legal requirements to enter the airport, we go inside to inquire about signing up for the flight to Ramstein. I see a HUGE line of active duty soldiers lining up for the flight, but I’m thinking positively and we go ahead and put our names down to compete for the flight. They added our names and the young lady started to put today’s date but I’m like wait… I signed up 21 August and here’s the confirmation from y’all. The Airman said as long as it’s not 60 days out we’ll take it, so we were listed with a signup date of 21 August which means if there are Space A spots, we should be sitting pretty. She sends us to clear medically, which consists of answering a sheet of questions asking if we feel sick, do we have a fever, a cough, difficulty breathing, etc. I’m assuming they mean coughing and breathing difficulties pertaining to COVID and not asthma, so my paper is filled with “NOs.” A few signatures from young Airmen clear us for the flight if selected. That’s all done by 7pm, and now we just have to wait until roll call at 23:10 (11:10pm)

We go in search of food and find there isn’t anything on this side of the security gates. There’s a USO downstairs, so we hang out there, I finish my first blog and charge my computer. When it closes at 10pm, we head back upstairs to wait for roll call. Right now, I’m sitting on the floor typing this and wondering what I’m going to look like when I try to get up. Steven is talking to a young Airman we’ve met who is on leave and headed back to his base in Turkey.

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There are sooooo many active duty people waiting for this flight. It’s going to Ramstein, Germany, and then on to Incirlik, Turkey. There are about 15 people that I can see wanting a Space A spot. Feeling a bit anxious, and I hope we all make it out, but most of all, me, the hubby, and our new young friend. He’s actually in a higher category than us, so he’ll get selected first but I’m hoping my 41 days of sign-up seniority puts us in a great position ahead of the other dozen or so folks waiting also.

Oh, hell. More people just showed up. If we don’t get selected for this flight, Plan B is to head to Naval Base Norfolk tomorrow. There’s a flight leaving in the evening for Naples, Italy that looks promising. It’s about a three-hour or so drive so that’s not too bad, but I’d rather make this flight to Germany.

Oh WOW!! AMC (Air Mobility Command) guy just came over and said, “Who is trying to fly Space A?” Everyone raises their hands and then he says, “Who wants to go to Germany?!”

Whoo Hoo! Jackpot! Everyone is selected!

We get our boarding passes and pay a whopping $39.40 for two tickets to Germany! A quick screening through TSA and we’re through. It’s midnight, boarding begins at 1:10 and the flight leaves about an hour later. Approximately 8 1/2 hours later I’ll be standing on German soil!

The adventure has started!