Hello friends and fellow Hivians! Today I tell you about a crazy work week that started just two days before the last weekend. I have to throw one Hive accomplishment that I've reached as well.
Monday and Tuessday were just routine work days. Wenesday we processed one C-17 aircraft worths of cargo. We had a holiday here in the States on Thursday. But with my job we often work holidays along with weekends.
Thursday work started at 4:00 p.m. and went to about 8:00 p.m. Our task was to load a fully loaded USAF C-17 aircraft. Sorry I only took one photo of the aircraft flying over as it missed its first approach on arrival. We are currently low manned at the moment and there was no time to take pictures of the work accomplished. Four of us loaded 8 pieces of wheeled equipment and two pallets which totaled over 50 short tons.
I can show you the aftermath of myself once I got back to the office. This day was the start of a 4 day heat wave here. Temperatures exceeded the 100° F (38° C) mark and I'm sure a few digits more can be added on top of that when we were on the tarmac. So needless to say I had a case of,"Swamp Ass." 🤣 A cold shower is the perfect remedy 🚿
Friday we processed cargo for two C-17 loads departing the early hours of Monday. The hope was to get as much cargo processed before it got really hot. Unfornately some units were either late or didn't have the proper paper work to start. The first two hours we just processed 1/25 pieces. Really felt like a wasted start to the morning.
No cushy building to work out of when we process cargo. The green box we work in to review paperwork,get weights and other things is like an oven. Just fans blowing hot air around and it only adds more challenges as we use many paper weights to keep paper work from flying around.
The good thing is we started to push some cargo through at a good pace after our slow start. We were in and out of the green box for 10 hours as we wrapped up things about 5:30 p.m. I must have drank about 20 water bottles and it didn't seem to be enough. I know because I only used the restroom once! Our leadership provided the water and even bought us some Jimmy John's sandwiches to aid our hunger. So our efforts were noticed and taken care.
Pictured above are 10 pallets of crated household goods. This was the curve ball of the weekend, we didn't anticipate it. Sunday are plan was to come in in at 7:30 p.m. and work Monday until 3:30 a.m. Well I was carrying the office standby phone. In the deep of sleep I received a call at 4:00 a.m. requesting a diverted aircraft be offloaded.
After making a few calls waking up others we began the download at 5:15 a.m and left work shortly after 6:00 a.m. This aircraft was supposs to go somewhere else to download than fly into us later in the evening to pick up one of the loads we had for it. They wanted to load up the outbound cargo on arrival but we we told them we will load on thier outbound leg. A rough morning as we were all shaking off cob webs.Fornately we dont have to do anything with the transit cargo as it will be sent via surface transportation. I went home and went back to bed to rest up for the upcoming evening.
First off these are not my photos. We had a crowd of people out at the first aircraft we had to load. They included many officers, Base Public Affairs, and a lot of my leadership. I received these photos in a job well done email yesterday. I'm assuming they were taken by the Public Affairs photographer.
The good thing is most of the extra people helped. Our leadership brought out cooling vest. I was already a sweaty mess and elected not to wear one. The thought of wearing one made me think there would be the possibility of getting a cold. Many wore them even some OF the crew members.
Though it was late at night it was actually kind of fun. Most items were loaded with the aircraft winch or with the aid of aircraft loader. There were some lighter pieces that were pushed up the ramp like this maintenance stand in the above picture. The fun part was telling and showing some higher brass and leadership what to do.
Once this aircraft was loaded the audience disappeared. The next aircraft we finished in about two hours ending the night just before 4:00 a.m. We all decided since we worked 8 hours we would not come in and work our normal Monday shift which would have started at 7:30 a.m. The overtime is not that valuable to fight staying awake all day.
This was a grueling 5 days but it always feels good to look back on it. A sense of accomplishment and a little pride can fuel one to endure! Of course being appreciated goes a ways too. You can't expect everytime but have to pat yourself on the back when not recognized.
Well I'm a few days past but I'm glad to say I have hit 10K Hive Power milestone. At the beginning of the month I thought it would be achieved on the upcoming HPUD. I guess I grew faster than anticipated, no complaints. Now the next goal is 20K, than 50K than 100K. Hopefully the next milestone doesn't take as long!
That's all I have for you. Take care, be safe and enjoy the rest of your week. Until next time!