My Hero

Sergeant First Class Baumgardner is my hero! He got me on a flight to Kuwait that I otherwise could have not got on. SFC Baumgardner is one of the NCOs that worked for me over the past 2.5 months. He was the chalk commander for the R&R flight for his leave back to the U.S. A chalk commander basically takes charge of all passengers on an Air Force flight conducting roll call, baggage loading, and hearding the cats (passengers). All flights leaving Afghanistan for Kuwait have a priority list. Emergency leave it top priority followed by personnel going on R&R, then there is everyone else. Since I was "everyone else," I was on a space available list. 81 on that list, to be specific. That created a hopeless situation since most flights only have 2-15 seats for "everyone else." I had already been delayed four days.

Then comes SFC Baumgardner to the rescue! According to him, five people did not show up for their brief and roll call for the flight that was completely full. H worked his NCO magic and somehow got me on the flight. Because of him I will now leave on time and not have to sit for a week in Kuwait before coming home. I think the reason that he was so motivated to help me is because I made sure that his performance evaluation reflected what he actually did in Afghanistan. His rater (who hasn't seen him in six months) was going to give him a mediocre rating that made SFC Baumgardner look like a poor NCO. I think he truly appreciated what I had done for him and was looking to return the favor. I've never done something for someone in expectation of a future benefit, but it sure is nice when it happens.

Thanks again SFC Baumgardner!