Ramstein (Germany)

Got a call very early that they needed someone to fly up to Germany today. It kind of sucked, since I had been flying until 0100 last night... They told me I had two hours before I needed to get airborne - which presented a lot of problems. And, best of all, they told me I needed to get back before midnight. After my annoyance with all of this wore off, I realized that the experience would be good. Kurt was assigned to go with me - he's pretty sharp - and we took off on time. Trouble getting ahold of the Italians (we tried to enter their airspace near Brindisi). Eventually on our way - using the hand-held GPS to get there. We got a cryptic comment from the French that something was wrong with our IFF, but we didn't think anything of it at the time... Arrived around 1500 - very cool weather (no snow, though). We were planning our return to the Ship but just before our scheduled departure we were told that they needed us to stay until - at least - Wednesday (when the Ship is at sea again). This means we'll miss the port visit to Trieste (too bad), but we'll be in Germany for about a week. We had dinner with the boss after he finally got done with all his meetings - an Italian Place called Vesuvios (2200).