Nevada Air Guard lands in Germany

This is the second in a series of stories tracking Nevada Air National Guard units during a training mission in Europe. Two squadrons - civil engineering and medical - from the 152nd Airlift Wing are doing their annual two-week training in Germany. The Nevada Appeal will tell some of their stories.

The fully loaded C-130 lifted off just after 5 a.m. from Reno-Tahoe Airport, banking to the northeast as a smudge of tangerine colored the horizon.

In the back, 64 members of the Nevada Air National Guard, 152nd Airlift Wing's civil engineering squadron sat on seats made of webbing for the first of two, six-hour flights that day. They were heading to Germany for an annual two-week training exercise.

Ear plugs in to mute the roar of the four turbo prop engines, the men and women sat along the walls, facing out from a central seat that ran the length of the plane. Rumor had it the flight was scheduled early so everyone would stay up all night then sleep during the flight.

The day started in the new terminal building at the air base. Members of the civil engineer squadron killed time by watching Conan O'Brien on a digital projector screen.

A spokesman informed them they would be loading onto buses soon.

'Just hang tight. I know it's a hot in here, but we've been trying to get C.E. (civil engineering) in here to fix it . . .'

'Hey!' the airmen protested, laughing. 'The part's on order!'

After takeoff, the flight crew talked through headsets.

'When did you sew on, Major?' someone asked, referring to a new patch.

'Oh, a couple months ago. I take it you weren't at the party?'

'No, I was out of town. Congratulations.'

The triangular rock for which Pyramid Lake is named could be seen out the window to the left. Dressed in all woodland BDUs (battle dress uniforms) in the cavernous fuselage, the civil engineers settled into the webbing and slept.

Five hours later, the aircraft landed at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota for fuel. Everyone piled off and walked to the brick flight operations building to use the facilities. About 18 huge KC-135 air refueling jets were lined up in the distance. Compared to the dry, high altitude of Reno, Grand Forks was muggy at only 911 feet above sea level.

Airmen gathered on the front porch, awaiting instructions to reboard.

With white hair and mustache John Tyson, an air guard member shooting video of the trip for Reno's News Channel 8, looked like an older Mark Twain - except for the camouflage ball cap and teal green ear plugs. He complained there was no coffee.

'Imagine that, these darned flatlanders,' he quipped.

He pulled out his cell phone and started dialing. 'What are you gonna call, your congressman and complain?' someone asked.

'No, I'm gonna call my wife.'

'She's got all the power - at least at his house!'

Heavy-equipment operator Dave Hansen of Carson City talked about his wife, too. She was recently released from the hospital with a bronchial infection.

'She's got all the paperwork and knows where I'll be. So if anything happens, I'll be using the Red Cross to get home,' he said.

After grabbing box lunches 'made with pride' at the air base, the engineers reloaded the plane. It was packed in the back, and it was hard to walk back to use the olive-green aluminum funnel urinal. It was easier to step between camouflaged legs on red webbing seats than to try and walk on the floor.

Flight engineer Santiago Santiago - known as 'Ditto' - had another idea. He climbed onto the aluminum beam that supports the center line of seats and climbed back above everyone's heads.

By now, some were so tired of sitting they stood reading in the narrow aisles. Others rocked out on headphones or played electronic games.

On the flight deck, pilot Allen Renwick had the plane doing 303 mph - 350 with the tail wind.

'We're about 630 miles from Nova Scotia,' he said, referring to that day's destination.

Seated behind him was 22-year-old crew chief Tom Hansen of Chilcoot, Calif. He said the C-130 is a durable aircraft, one that can take off and land almost anywhere. He would know; he's been to southwest Asia twice in them, operating out of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

'They say you can fly one of these with only one engine, but I've never seen it done,' he said. 'You can actually land these things on an aircraft carrier. They're the largest plane you can land on an aircraft carrier.'

That evening, St. Johns, Newfoundland, looked like any other city from the air, lights spreading in all directions with blinking red radio towers on the hills.

The engineers and crew loaded yellow school buses to a nice hotel downtown, where many doubled up to save money on rooms. In civilian clothes, they spread out into the city, hoping to find dinner at 11:30 p.m.

The next day, they would reload the C-130 for the seven-hour flight over the icy Atlantic on the way to Spangdalhem, Germany.

Karl Horeis is a reporter for the Nevada Appeal on assignment with the Nevada Air National Guard in Germany. Reach him at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com.