Flighty Memories

The recent crash of the Russian airliner in the Sinai brought back a lot of memories. The flight originated at the Sharm El Sheik airport ferrying Russian tourists back home. I’ve flown out of that airport several times. I was the operations officer for a battalions sent to the Sinai on a peace keeping mission, an outgrowth of the Camp David Peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. We worked out of a well-fortified base camp just outside Sharm El Sheik right on the Red Sea.

Our Base Camp - Right Next to Hotels
Saudi Arabia in the Distance

The peace treaty allowed the tourist trade along the gorgeous Sinai coast to blossom. It was kind of incongruous as several of the camp’s guard towers looked down on 3 and 4 star hotels flourishing in Nama Bay. We had to drive around minefields to reach the airport. I’m guessing those have been eradicated by now, as the development continued after I left.

One of the things I was in charge of was securing the contracted airliner that brought the battalion in and the battalion we were relieving out. It was explained to me in no uncertain terms why this was important. A plane from the same airport carrying a similar deployment home less than ten years earlier had crashed while taking off from Gander, Newfoundland on the final leg of the journey. One of the many Middle Eastern terrorist groups claimed responsibility, as those sons of whores are wont to do. It was never proven but the military took a lot more interest in baggage handling at Sharm Airport after that.

Memorial in Gander to the 1985 Crash

Our baggage was checked by the Egyptian military on base and then ferried to the airport on our own trucks with military guards, no one was allowed to approach the trucks at any point. Once the plane taxied into position no Egyptians were allowed in the vicinity until I had established an armed cordon surrounding the plane. Thereafter the only Egyptian allowed to approach the plane was a fuel handler, previously frisked, accompanied by a very large PFC specially chosen for intimidation factor. The bags were loaded by soldiers under direction of the American air crew. The cordon remained in place until the plane taxied away for takeoff. Since the battalion was replaced in two waves the incoming battalion was responsible for similar security on the flight the second wave went out on.

I’m sure the civilian side was run a lot differently. The Sinai is very close to the sun center of terrorism, Saudi Arabia with their radical Wahhabi version of Islam. You can actually see Saudi Arabia across the Gulf of Aqaba from the Sharm airport.  Predictably the Saudis exported their cancer across the gulf and infest the Sinai. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to get a bomb aboard the ill-fated Russian plane.

The only silver lining to this tragic situation is the Russians will not take an Obamian “tsk tsk” approach to this attack. They have a well-earned reputation for exacting a severe price for this type activity. They don’t publicize it but they make certain the families of the people involve feel the pain and then some. The expression, heads will roll, springs to mind. It’s all very Russian. If I was ISIS I’d be girding myself up for some virgins because – “The Russians are coming.” Good hunting and Godspeed to them.

Casual Fridays and it Warmer here than L.A.!