Sgt Grit Marine Forums

Girls,

I've read many of the homecoming posts lately, both the "yay he's home" and the frustrations of postponned homecomings.  As one having just returned from the sandbox and also anxiously awaiting the return of my own (yes, playing the oh it may be 24 hrs, it maybe 2 weeks game as well) I'd like to offer you some insight into how the system works.  I was the Embarker for our squadron deployment, so am intimatly familiar with the deployment / redeployment movement cycle.

The government contracts the movements of troop to and from theater to through two different sources: 1) from CONUS to Kuwait (or Kuwait to CONUS) and 2) from Kuwait to Iraq (or Iraq to Kuwait).  Group (2) is contracted through militar TACAIRLIFT -- usually a Marine or Air Force C-130.  Once scheduled, this flight rarely changes.  But complete movements may take several days due to size of C-130s and amout of cargo a unit is transporting.  Additionally, units may be split if priority bumps part of a unit.  There is also the possibility for Marines to be put into space A flights to get into / out of Iraq.  Movement between CONUS and Kuwait is contracted through private airlines.  Airlines give the governemnt a plane and crew for the troop movement.  A few words about how these flights are set.  1) Priority is set by the DOD and units are subject to being bumped up to 2 hrs prior to their unit leaving.  (ie, if your Marines unit is priority 8 and all of a sudden unit with priority 3 shows up in Kuwait, as long as his plane is not within 2 hrs of taking off, too bad, your Marines' unit isn't going home.)  2) Units are not given solidified flight plans until 5-7 days prior.  3) Airlines are not required to commit to the schedule they give the government until 10 hrs prior to the flight departure time.  So, even if the flight has been confirmed, the airlines may just not have the planes to support it.  It happens... flight schedules are constantly evolving animals. 4) Remember, it's the end of the fiscal year and money's an issue.  5) Weather ... it's the desert.  Weather sucks... and if it's not safe to fly, you'd rather have him stay in Kuwait anyway.

So please, stay patient.  No one's trying to hide information from you.  No one's out to get you.  But you're also not special, and your Marine has to follow the same procedures as everyone else.  Hopefully this clears the air a little bit.  And again, I'm feeling the pain from both sides, so this is not an attack on anyone, just offered up as some info.  I'm happy to answer any questions I can or help with what I can given my experience.

wow thanks so much that was extremely helpful. I am not only feeling my own frustration but the frustration of my husband and his fellow Marines who are stuck in Kuwait and I believe my husband told me this evening "If someone would just pull us aside for 5 minutes and say THIS IS WHY THIS IS HAPPENING, the entire unit would feel so much better, delayed schedule or not" so to have some sort of insight is really helpful and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to pass info along to us. Thanks again. I feel much better.
 

I'm glad you posted this.  I'm sure this will help the ladies understand the system more.  I noticed some frustration that was going on earlier and I think being on this board we all want to be each other's support system.  I always hope to try and bring comfort to the ladies that are aggravated about their Marine's homecoming, whether I know what it's like or not.  I just hope that myself or the other ladies have not offended the ones that were frustrated about the long wait on their Marine. 

Thanks very much for the info, ma'am. I had no idea how any of that worked at all. It's all a whole lot more complicated than I knew (as to be expected from the military, eh?). 

Oh yes, the system was invented by someone with too much free time and not enough common sense.  ha!

It's very frustrating to be stuck in the middle of.  There were times we'd get all the way to the plane, all our gear loaded and told "sorry, you're not leaving today." 

And I know I can come off harsh often (it's part of my personality and probably more evident given my job) but please feel free to ask questions you may have.  I'm here to help and, if nothing else, you can rest assured that I'll be honest with you. 

Thanks so much for the info!

i don't have a deployed Marine, but i still found this information very helpful!! thank you!

Thank you so much for that information! Very important to know :)

--Anjuli

Thanks for that information, it all makes sense now.

I don't have a deployed Marine, but I just wanted to say WELCOME HOME and thank you for your service. It's much appreciated. And thanks for the advice to the ladies who are struggling with delayed homecomings.

Thank You for the insight Ma'am! Welcome Home! It's so motivating to see your picture, I gotta tell you.

Can i ask who you work for? 

You can shoot me an email if you want to know more about me.