Another true story:
Friday March 21st 2003. First VC10 into Kuwait sitting on the pan for the first of too many aeromed pax to RTB back home. USAF C-17 parks behind us and naturally we go over for a looksy - 5 hrs on the ramp waiting so you have to do something.
Turns out the crew were from a National Guard unit. The had been activated on the Tuesday, deployed from the US on the Wednesday, had final prep on Thursday and went forward from Gremany on the Friday. These guys went from basic Guard kit to EVERYTHING in 2 days and were fully mission capable in 4 days. I appreciate this is not the full story and preparations counts for a lot, but my point is these guys had it all at the right place and time. Meanwhile, we had to wait 2 weeks for NAPS and combo pens and even trying to steal the kit off those who were being RTB was too difficult. How we laughed when we asked whoever if they had spare stuff - how many times were we told " you should not be here if you don't have the right kit"
Made the decision to leave pretty easy.
Regarding our people, as the Boche said in WW1, " lions led by donkeys". Personally I think that's a little harsh on the donkey
