Coaches Tour 2010: The Beginning

Sunday, May 23, 2010, 6:13pm CST.
I arrived in Wichita Kansas on Tuesday, May 18 and was the first person on our tour crew to arrive. The Under Armour travel agency booked me a rental car for JUNE 18, (and I’m the idiot who didn’t double check it) but Enterprise luckily had vehicles available. It was a luxury car for $20 more a day, or a pickup for the price of my original reservation. I took the truck. Fun! Little did I know how handy that truck would be. I found a nice little restaurant for lunch in Wichita and had some final quiet moments before I was thrust into the unknown. My last bit of control over my own time before surrendering, willingly to the tour. We weren’t scheduled to leave until Sunday, so the thought of 4 full days was daunting. I thought for sure I’d be doing a lot of sitting around and wondering what to do. I had planned to work out, keep a journal, talk to Dan on the phone and get some stuff ready. Frankly, I had no idea what we were going to do. My last trip overseas was very different than this one, so I didn’t have much of an idea what I was in for. Looking back, I’m really glad….REALLY glad I got there on Tuesday.
I met Major Patrick Knott (Nuggett) at McConnell Air Force Base. He signed me onto the base and got me and my truck a pass to get on and off base at will. He got me checked into Billeting (the base hotel) and gave me a little tour of the base. Mike Whalen (Poppa Bear) didn’t arrive for another hour or 2, so Pat gave me a little drive around tour of the base, and a quick tour of his squadron. McConnell is a very nice base. He dropped me at the hotel and went to get Poppa Bear. I ran to the gym, did a little workout. Quick shower, and news that they were back, and it was time to head to dinner.
Pat and his wife Karen made us a wonderful dinner at their house. We had a great time, drank some wine, listened to some of Poppa Bear’s stories and really enjoyed ourselves. We headed back to the base, and to bed at a reasonable hour.
The next day began at 0800. Let the games begin! We headed over to the LRS (Logistics, Readiness Squadron) to find all the Under Armour that was sent and get the process started. There were 15 palates of assorted Under Armour gear, and shirts from the coaches schools. 15 palates! It was NUTS!!! They moved it all over to an empty and available corner of the warehouse, and I got to work. Actually, I went to lunch, and when I got back, James Mortor, Heather “Cookie” Barnes, and Warren “dot com” Weldon were there. They’re boom operators on the tanker we’re flying on throughout our trip. They drive the boom that delivers gas to jets in mid air. Pretty cool! They were a lot of fun, and we spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out what the hell we had in all the 15 palates, and trying to get it organized for the next day. At about 1900 (7pm) we knocked off, and Pat, Poppa Bear and I went to dinner. We found a great Italian joint, had some great wine, and some laughs. Poppa Bear is a phenomenal story teller, and we enjoyed them all. Home at a reasonable hour, and time for bed.
Thursday, I saw military efficiency kick in. More of the crew were there (John, Jonah, Kyle, Col Thatcher) so we had lots of man power. We knew what was on each palate, so they started to bag everything and put it together. Dave and Charlie (GA football coaches at Iowa) arrived and started getting the lay of the land. We took a run to Office Depot and Walmart, and set up an office right there in the warehouse. We had everything….a printer, internet, supplies, etc! This would be Poppa Bear’s office for the next few days, as well as our meeting point. By the end of the day, we had all 15 palates in bags, organized by each stop, and they had the first palate built. The palates we put on the plane are much bigger than standard wooden shipping palates, and we filled 2 of them with A3 bags, over 5’5” high each. This would later become my bed on the flight. Little did I know sending so much gear for the troops would result in a comfortable place to sleep on the plane! What luck! The crew had everything organized and appropriately labeled by what was in each bag, and what base each batch of bags were for. It was very impressive, and will hopefully make our lives very easy when we get to each stop. Sitting here now in the plane, it is JAM packed! It’s awesome that we practically had no more space for anything else on board. We are bringing over the maximum amount of stuff we could possible bring on this tour. How’s that for maximizing the opportunity.
When we arrived on Friday morning, Heather, James, John and Warren already had the second palate all put together and ready to go. They were loading the plane at 1, so they were well ahead of the game. Now it was time to think about provisions. We were planning a cookout for everyone behind Billeting in the little pavilion, so we needed burgers and dogs (and beer!) for that. We also needed snacks for the plane, and other random supplies (zip ties, sun screen, TOILET PAPER, etc!) We also needed to ship a bunch of boxes, and pick up some rush banners that we’d had made. As the day ticked on and we took care of this little thing, and that little thing, time was running out, so Dave and I finally separated ourselves and went on the most amazing (and fun) speed shopping excursion I have ever been on! It was AWESOME! He had the list all made up, and we were flying around Walmart throwing everything in the cart that we needed. We FILLED 2 carts, including the underneath part, and walked out of there with $600 worth of supplies, in under an hour. There were definitely some high fives!! We rushed back and fired up the grill and proceeded to have an awesome time until 1 in the morning. Chip Kelly, the coach from Oregon arrived half way through the night, as did Blake. We had a lot of laughs, some great burgers thanks to Master Griller Dave, and a lot of beer! Pat and I engaged in the most hilarious tomato fight ever, and we had a great time. At 1, they needed to pop to the airport to pick up Coach Tim Murphy from Harvard, so the party broke then. We had a great time.
The next morning, I wasn’t as hung over as I thought I might be, thank goodness! Frankly, I was hardly hung over at all. Good old Coors Light! Today was the day for the 5K that Nick Mercurio (Call Sign Lois….now THAT’S a funny story) the Public Affairs Officer assigned to our tour had set up. There was also a signing with the coaches, burgers, a 40 yard dash competition and a flag football game. It was a great day, filled with Under Armour Raffles, and good healthy fun. We got to know the people on our tour a little more, and interacted with a bunch of people on base. It was a beautiful day despite very strong winds. (Kansas in windy!) We had a great time, and before you knew it, it was time for a quick shower, and our final party before the departure. The coaches went to Scotch and Sirloin with the General who is on our trip and the Friends of McConnell. The rest of us went to Pat’s house for a more casual get together. More bonding and getting to know eachother. Around 10, the coaches showed up, there was a ra ra session, pep talk, briefing, whatever the hell you want to call it. We were all fired up. We were leaving tomorrow!!! Charlie and Dave took my rental truck back to the airport (that had transported MANY people, and TONS of supplies) and picked up the last of our 4 coaches, Coach Rich Ellerson from West Point. (Coach Zook from Illinois had arrived at around 3pm that day.) The crew was assembled, and it was time for bed. We didn’t get back to Billeting until around 11:30pm, and I still had laundry and we had to pack. Finally around 1pm I was all ready to go, and tried to lay down for some sleep. I was pretty excited, but managed to get some rest.
Which brings us to this morning! We met at LRS at 0830, packed up some remaining things, and went to get fitted for our Kevlar vests and helmets. (we are going into a war zone you know!) Then we headed to lunch, and waited for the plane to be ready. We were scheduled to leave at 1400 and we ended up leaving at 1430. If you had told me at 0830 this morning that we’d pretty much take off on time, I would have laughed in your face. It was amazing how everything came together. It’s great to work with people who are efficient and focused on a task. Wow! So here we are on the KC135 somewhere over the Atlantic headed to Germany. The plane is packed to the gills and everyone is very excited. At every stop, we’ll unload a little more and a little more gear, so on the way home, this is going to be a pretty empty plane. Should be a fun contrast.