Charleston to Mildenhall

Back in March of 2009 I had a week off between jobs and decided to take a quick trip to Mildenhall, UK. The flight came up on the schedule for a Monday am departure from Charleston. I called the pax terminal and they said it should have pretty many seats going out. I left first thing in the morning on Monday after calling to confirm it was still on the schedule.

Charleston AFB Terminal

After I got there I had a few hours and had the opportunity to finally meet Horace Freemon from Freemon Transportation. He is a retired US Navy Master Chief and a really great guy. We had time to talk while I was grabbing a quick bite before the flight left at the All Ranks Club. He does a great job of taking care of people and if you are looking for a ride there he is a much better option than some other companies that may not take as good of care....

Horace Freemon and Dirk Pepperd

The flight left mid-afternoon and went out with only two of us! Myself and another fellow Cat VI were the only SPATs on the plane. The crew took great care of us and we part of an infight refueling mission somwhere mid-flight.

C-5 to MHZ with plenty of empty seats!

We arrived the next morning. I only stayed about two days as I had to get back to start a new job. I wanted to go to London but there was one of the G-8 summit meetings going on and rioting so I decided not to go. I did get to check out some of the local landscape outside the back gate and found some really neat houses.

House outside Mildenhall

Another point of interest was the Bird In Hand Pub which is convienently located right outside the back gate also. Great people and the food and drink was excellent along with the company.

Bird In Hand Pub/Guesthouse

I got to meet Don Miller (DBM UK) who came to the terminal to meet up with me before I headed back to Travis. I was out of uniform without my red bandanna, but he squared me away with an extra one. Thanks Don!

Don Miller and Dirk Pepperd at Mildenhall Terminal

Here's a view of the KC-10 that took me back to Travis. Again there were only two of us with about 6-8 seats still open back to California. They had completed their refueling mission in the Middle East and were heading back to Travis where there wing was located. Since the plane was going back home it was only configured with 15 total seats and had about 5 or 6 crew members flying back also. The cargo bay was completely empty and you could have played a football game in there! My first time flying on a KC-10 extender. The flight took us over the polar icecap and was 10 hours long.

Empty Seats on KC-10

Me standing in front of Travis Pax Terminal

Finally left Travis on another C-5 and arrived back, well after midnight in Charleston. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun and met a whole bunch of people from the board during the trip. 

Taking a cat nap on the way back to CHS

Welcome to the Military Travel Blog!

Well it's taken me longer than I wanted to but the blogger.com seems like the most user friendly interface for people use. Most people that land here initially know that I have been looking for a better way for everyone to share their trip reports from the pepperd.com message board. 

Over the next few weeks my goal is to get this project ramped up and fully operational. Now instead of trying to just share a trip report with just text, you will have the opportunity to share pictures and even videos of your experience as well.

If you are interested in being one of the first to share your trip report here let me know. The only limitation I see right now is there can only be a total of 100 authors to this blog... I would ask that some people could help others to get their information posted. This will be easier for those with a decent amount of experience and can get this done on their own. As much as I'd like to, I don't have the time to hold someone's hand to get them through this (sorry), because of the number of irons I already have in the fire.

I look forward to seeing this take shape and thanks to everyone who decides to get involved with it.

Thanks!

Dirk