It was 0410 in the morning and Air Force 702 had been sitting on the runway at Munich’s main airport for the past 40 minutes and it was becoming a mental chore for the Captain and her crew. Sharon opened communications with the tower.

“Tower: this is Air force 702 again. Current take off status please.” The tower barked back, “Air force 702: Das is no status at dis time and if status ist ever updated I vill surely communicate vid you but you must vait…..is dis not clear for you?” “Thank you tower, very clear.“ Sharon looked over at her co-pilot Jean and whispered, “Sounds a lot like my EX husband.”

The problem with utilizing a German civilian airport was that the tower viewed your military craft as if it were a B-17 coming back from a raid on Berlin. Being rude was an understatement. The crew sat at their positions and waited and listened to traffic control on their head sets.
  
A 747 Eastern had just taken off and before closing out communications it’s captain called back. “Tower: this is Eastern 451, by the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway.”

"Continental 635: you are clear for takeoff behind Eastern 451, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Do you copy das report from Eastern 451?"
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern‘s report... we've already notified our caterers."

Sharon’s crew had a fit! “Well done,” laughed Tina Sue, “bet the tower didn’t even get the joke.”

“Air Force 702: clear for take off behind Lufthansa 1256, contact Departure on frequency 127.7.” The C-5 Galaxy Transport started it’s roll and the entire crew got sharp. “Tower: thanks for your hospitality to me and also my grand father.” The tower was quiet for a moment and then, “Air Force 702: your gran fata?” Sharon responded…..”yes, he flew over Munich in 1944 but did not land…..have a nice day tower.” Sharon’s co-pilot almost peed herself.

Pulling the C-5 Galaxy into the air was in itself a natural high for Sharon. They called the C-5, “Mother”, because it was a sweet and protective aircraft. ‘Mother’ could lift a grand total weight of 770,000 pounds. That’s craft, payload, fuel and crew. Serious poundage. 580 mph at a ceiling of 34,000 ft. A one way ticket of 2,400 miles made ‘Mother’ a home away from home. ‘Mother’ did not come cheap…..$170 million, but Mom was worth it. Sharon’s crew consisted of her co-pilot Jean Odell who joined the crew about 7 months and 184,000 miles ago. Jean rode the engineer sit for a few years in the States and then plus trained towards her pilot status. Her two flight engineers were Master Sergeant Tina Sue Odair from the Tenn.Guard and Lt.Fay Burns who was as sharp as they come but way to quiet and hard to get a response following a joke or fart. Good crew, good moral, good discipline. Captain Sharon Phelps could ask for no more.
 

The crew was flying short, that is to say, skeleton crew. 'Mother' usually carried two load masters but Sharonhad been advised that their destination would furnish grunt help. The destination was Afghanistan. The last time they opted into the grinder was when they delivered four helicopters and ten thousand pounds of frozen food. This time they were picking up.

Fay’s voice came across the comp. “Any idea what we’re extracting Captain?”
“No idea. Most likely pulling some troopers out for rotation”, replied the pilot.
“Oh God“, groaned Tina Sue, “remember how bad they trashed ‘Mother’ last time?”
Sharon answered back through the headphones, “Your right, Tina Sue. Jean, have a chat with their NCO when they come aboard.” “Yes ma’am’, replied the co-pilot.

‘Mother’ roamed the stratosphere for 11 hours before making a pit stop in Turkey to fuel up and then course correction to Afghanistan.

The sun was most gone by the time they landed at Bagram Air Force Base. Sharon came on the comp, “Opts wants us loaded, secured, paper work 4-0 and off the tarmac by 21:00. Any questions?”

“No ma’am” was the collective reply. Soon the craft was taxied to an isolated location, chocked in, and surrounded by guards as was SOP for a war zone. Tina Sue went below deck and disengaged the safeties and slowly opened the massive aft hatch. As soon as the hatch was secured she extended the ramp.“Captain, there’s already four trucks backing up to the ramp.”

“Don’t let anybody unload until you see some paper work”, Sharon radioed from the cockpit. A few moments later Tina Sue was back on the mic. “Captain, there’s an army colonel here. He’s a chaplain.” Back in the cockpit Sharon looked at Jean and said, “Please not that! Finish the post flight and I’ll be back in a few.” While climbing down the stairs from the cockpit to the deck below she could already see the contents of the trucks. Caskets! Tina Sue was standing next to the chaplain holding a folder and made the intro. “Captain, this is Chaplain Moore, Colonel Moore this is Captain Phelps.” The two officers shook hands. “It’s sad duty, I know. We’ll have the remains on board in about 30 minutes.” 
 

  The pilot and chaplain stood next to each other as each flag draped casket was slowly and reverently brought on board by 6 quiet and somber soldiers. Soon 9 were placed and secured to the deck. The plane filled with about 14 soldiers, 3 officers and one civilian. The chaplain said a prayer and then all the troops came to attention and gave a farewell salute to their comrades. All but 9 soldiers left the cargo bay. They were the escorts. Some would accompany their charges all the way to the states and not return until after the funeral.

Tina Sue gave the escorts instructions on what and where about the aircraft and when Sharon radioed back to secure for take off Tina Sue had the men seated and harnessed in. Back in the cockpit she buckled in and sat with a blank stare. Jean and Fay looked at each other and said nothing. “Focus ladies”, ordered their Captain. Sharon taxied ‘Mother’ out on to the main runway and started powering up the engines. They received clearance and the crew, with their special cargo, began the first span of the long trip. It was only fitting that ‘Mother’ was taking them home.