I knew it was a mistake last evening. With a 0015 show time, I have a tendency to stay awake rather than take a nap for fear that I am going to miss the flight announcement.
Air Force is easy, and clear. They do a one time announcement for a flight to see how many they have who need the flight. After accomodating all those with “reservations” the rest of the seats are filled by Space-A. And there in lies the rub. You have no way of knowing how many seats are actually available, nor how many on the waiting list. And if you miss the call – you have missed the call. You are skipped over and they go on to the next person in line.
If, as happened to us, there is excess cargo, then seats will suddenly vanish and the flight will be updated to read “cargo only” as happened to us at both the earlier time and 0345.
My resulting sleep deprivation could have been worse. Stumbling home with body armor, kevlar and duffle I didn’t even bother to set an alarm.
So here I sit, back in the office for a couple of hours since my body clock is set to get up early. We will try again for one of the flights later today and reconsider if we can’t hitch that ride.
Where were you trying to go? Doesn’t your rank give you a “reservation”?