120 Days in the desert, BEEliners officer gives first-hand look at mission Published Aug. 13, 2010 By Maj. Rich Tanner 21st Airlift Squadron, Asst. Director of Ops TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE,Calif. -- It's 4:15 a.m. local time, and the phone rings. "Sir, this is Captain Lambert with your alert ..." Half an hour later, the crew is on a van and headed to the dining facility. After breakfast, we show up to receive our flight information, as well as a tactics and intelligence briefing. We then load our professional gear onto the C-17 Globemaster III and begin pre-flight procedures. The jet is a busy place as final fueling, loading, and maintenance tasks are completed. Once airborne, we have a five-hour flight to Afghanistan. On-the-job training takes place at 31,000 feet, so the co-pilots break-out their "coloring books," which more experienced pilots use to lead a discussion about aircraft systems, international flight procedures, or crew management regulations. We arrive to an airfield in Afghanistan, where loadmasters coordinate with ground personnel and offload the cargo. A few quick checklists and we're airborne again, this time into a headwind and it takes closer to six hours to make it back to our deployed base. Our other deployed locations are doing much the same mission, with shorter but more frequent flights and carrying troops instead of cargo. It's been a long day and it's far from over, so the crew rotates through the bunk for a nap to stay fresh. Box lunches come out and between airplane talk, there's always time for a chat about what everyone plans to do during their post-deployment leave. We retell the latest stories from home--how the kids are growing up fast or maybe how a mother-in-law wrecked the spouse's car while running an errand. Life at home hasn't stopped. Our mission keeps us busy and demands our very best efforts, but our thoughts occasionally drift to California as we watch the sun set from 36,000 feet. BEEliners at two other locations have been keeping the same grueling pace, as our ops go around the clock and never take a holiday. But our daily activities are not limited to what happens on the jet. Between flights, you can't go to a deployed gym or chow hall without bumping into BEEliners. Without exception, everyone is faster, stronger, leaner and more fit than when we left. We keep score--miles run, pounds lost, weights lifted. Visit any dorm room and you'll see BEEliners hitting the books or writing papers on computers. They're busy with undergraduate and graduate courses, professional military education and language studies. After the flying and the books and the gym, there's occasionally time for a card game or a movie in the dorm's common room. Being deployed is hard, but this group has come together to make the best of it. Friendships forged and strengthened during these 120 days will last a lifetime. We are proud to serve. The reminders of our country are everywhere, even the sandwich line at the dining facility. "What kind of sandwich, sir?" asks the chow hall worker. SrA Glen Bernier responds politely, "Turkey." "And what kind of cheese?" SrA Bernier's only answer every time with added emphasis... "AMERICAN."