Love, Nairobi Style! – RedState | Political News
Back in my days as a C-141 Aircraft Commander stationed at Charleston AFB, SC, we rolled into Nairobi, Kenya, after one of those long, butt-numbing hauls across Africa, which began in the US and featured stops in Senegal, Liberia, and South Africa.
Engines still winding down, the crew was worn out but excited. We knew crew rests in Kenya normally meant one thing particular — and brother, it actually delivered this time!
The crew bus picked us up at the jet late at evening. The US Embassy rep told us there have been no lodge rooms at lodges they thought-about “safe,” so he drove us out to a real safari resort on the outskirts of city. It was about 2 AM, and I didn’t care…I used to be dreaming of a scorching bathe and a cold mattress. We checked in, and I acquired precisely that!
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The solar rose up, and I stumbled to my home windows and pulled the curtains open. I used to be jet-lagged as hell. I used to be immediately shocked!
I’m speaking the full deal: wide-open savanna views, acacia trees, and wildlife just wandering around like they owned the place. Lions, giraffes, and a few elephants are hanging out in the gap. “OK, I gotta get up for this!” I believed!
I walked around to a few rooms and woke up the fellows. “Mandatory crew briefing on the porch!” I yelled. Laughing.
They all confirmed up, and we kicked back on the view deck, with cold Tusker beers in hand, and watched giraffes stroll by at sundown while the day burned scorching and the sky turned blood orange and then deep purple.
One of the younger loadmasters nearly crapped himself when a zebra walked proper up to the fence. The entire crew was laughing, swapping flying tales, and soaking it in.
After a week of MREs, flight bag Chef Boyardee and beanie weinies, and “hurry up and wait,” that place felt like paradise. Pure Africa magic!
The next day, the Embassy called and told us they have been going to transfer us downtown, “to a more secure location.” We groused a little, and they moved us into a modern, high-rise lodge proper downtown. Talk about whiplash!
From listening to lions roar in the gap to metropolis lights glowing 20 flooring up with fashionable rooms, scorching showers that truly stayed scorching, and a view overlooking the bustling streets of Nairobi.
After dragging our baggage again, we hit the city like correct aircrew — discovered some great local spots for nyama choma and cold drinks, swapped lies with the lodge employees, and headed out to our favourite evening spot, The Carnivore!
Often called the last word “Beast of a Feast,” is one of Nairobi’s most iconic eating locations. And an aircrew’s dream! Everything from prime beef, lamb, chicken, and pork to adventurous meats, crocodile, ostrich, and yak-– all carved straight onto scorching plates at your desk! And the drinks?! The drinks flowed!
When we acquired back to the lodge, the entire crew hit the pool after a long day, with a swim-up bar. It just so occurred that one of my NCO flight engineers needed to be reenlisted before we acquired home.
No worries! This is America! One of the other E’s ran up to his room to grab his American flag patch from his flight go well with. So, while we all stood there in the pool, 9 Americans in bathing fits, I reenlisted my NCO in the lodge swimming pool. The other flight engineer held the flag patch behind us as we stood there, in the pool, only in bathing fits, palms raised, and I reenlisted my flight engineer.
That was the wild magnificence of the C-141 world. One day, you’re hauling tanks and troops into some bare-bones grime strip, the next, you’re going from safari animals at your step to high-rise luxurious in one of Africa’s greatest cities.
No two crew rests have been ever the same. It was exhausting, unpredictable, and completely unforgettable. It was also one of the only best moments in my life!
God bless the airlift mission, the crews who flew it, and those wild nights that made all the laborious days value it.
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