Immediately after the evening show we left on on a C-17 - all to
ourselves - flying to BAGRAM Air Base in Afghanistan.
Now THAT was a thrill.
We did a morning show in order to entertain those who work the night shift.
Afterwards, we chatted with most of them, and took pictures with a few of them.
These two were from Texas, if memory serves, and invited us to their
home town, where they promise to show us a great time!
The hospital crew, including the incomparable country music fan Dr. Steve Martin, center. On the previous day, he gave us a splendid tour of the hospital facilities, and described how beneficial they are to the local Kyrgyzstan population.
The MANAS Fire Department had fun with Matt - forcing him to put on the fire suit.
The falcon guy. He keeps two falcons and flies them on a regular basis to keep the local bird population away from the flightline. Amazing stuff! Each of us got to hold a falcon.
Here we are with the crew of a KC-135 refueling tanker. They gave
an excellent tour of the plane, and answered all of our stupid
questions!
Larry and Matt, pilot and co-pilot. Don is the navigator.
We felt like the Beatles, arriving in the U.S. in 1964. Okay, not really.
Getting a tour of a C-17 cargo jet. Little did we know that just a few hours later, we'd be flying in one.
Captain Baker. Buckle up people.
Seconds before take-off, in the cargo hold of a C-17, bound for Afghanistan, a 4 hour flight.
We had JUST finished our evening show at MANAS, and had to pack up our gear in a hurry in order to catch this flight.
Our band gear doesn't look like much inside a C-17.
Unfortunately, we were too tired to take advantage of the enormous cargo hold and play football or frisbee while in the air. Instead, we slept, the whole trip. Those #9 Russian beers might have had something to do with it.
