No Place Like Home
July 9, 2003

Home. The word carries so many thoughts and memories.

It’s also the word that was written nearly one thousand times on the interior wall of one of the porta-potties at Camp Commando, Kuwait. It looked like a punishment given in class for misspelling a word. “Write the word “home” one thousand times on the blackboard! Then maybe you’ll remember how to spell it.”

Home also identifies where I am at present. This all came about unexpectedly. About a month ago I was asked to accept a new assignment. I had planned to be in Kuwait through the summer before rotating back to the U.S. Instead, I was asked to change geographic locations in July. My new command suggested I come back home before arriving for this new assignment. That sounded just fine to me!

I finished up a few things at Camp Commando and caught a plane home. I traveled on a C17, which is a large, four-engine jet transport. It didn’t really matter to me as long as it was taking me back to the good old USA! The flight plane was to fly from Kuwait to Rhine Main Air Force Base in Frankfurt, Germany. I had a few hours layover there before continuing on to Charleston, SC. Again, a couple of hours on the ground before out final leg of the trip to March Air Force Base in southern CA. All together

I had a new experience on this trip home. As the senior ranking person on the plane, I was invited to sit in the cockpit on the leg from Germany to Charleston. Not only was I able sit up front during our take-off, but I also got to observe a mid-air refuel. This is what I call a “delicate dance.” Our route took us over the British Isles and then into Canada where we met up with a KC135 tanker/refueler. Here we were traveling several hundred miles per hour at about 30,000 feet attempting to connect a twenty-foot fuel probe extended from the aft of the tanker into the top of the C17. When we finally hooked up the two planes were about sixteen feet apart! There are two windows on the top of the cockpit that allow you to see what’s happening. I was mesmerized! The pilot was so cool during all of this. You’d have thought he was taking a walk in the park instead of making so precarious a connection! These Air Force pilots are real pros!

Once back at Camp Pendleton I took care of some business and then drove the 415 miles home, finally arriving at 1:30 a.m. It was great to be home again!

While back in Ripon, I was able to be present at the birth of one Molly Burton, whose parents I married a couple of years ago. I also met Paul Koval who was hired to be our new youth minister in May. He and his family will be moving down to California the middle of August to begin their ministry with us. He’s a great guy and a terrific preacher. We hit it off real well. I’m looking forward to getting back from my next assignment so we can begin working together. He spent twenty-three years in drugs before committing his life to Christ. Now he’s totally sold out to Christ. We’ll get along just fine!

Oh, I didn’t mention where my next assignment is to be. It’s at a base in Djibouti, East Africa — in an area know as the Horn of Africa. I report there the middle of July. I’ll fill you in more on Djibouti in the next article.

In the meantime I’m enjoying being home for another week. And Dorothy was right: There’s no place like home!