June 7th -- Touched by a Kranz

I forget what I did in the morning; perhaps more cleaning of the apartment in preparation for family visitation. But the afternoon was geared towards helping the Food Committee put up four 15-foot tents and countless tables and chairs for the WBLS lunches Thursday and Friday. The entire WBLS staff (20 or so) was supposed to attend, but there were only six or seven of us. I'm sure good reasons could be found in a magic papoose somewhere.

Changed clothes inside AFIT into my WBLS Nice Pants Uniform, did some last-minute computer work, and drove over to the other half of Wright-Pat to pick up the bus for the night's festivities. The transportation folks had asked if we wanted the big bus or the small bus, and I said if we only had 12-15 people, and I'd be driving around neighborhoods, it'd be easier with the small bus (though later I wasn't sure if I was authorized, as I was only certified on the 44-pax bus, but that e-mailed question went unanswered, so any laws broken was the fault of a slothous woman). The bus wasn't that much smaller, maybe eight rows of seats as opposed to ten, but it turned out to be a lot more modern, with an electronic dashboard display panel, and a curious lack of a connected door handle. A little switch to my left read "Open/Close Door" so I pressed it. *click* went the door as it remained open. I pressed the lever the other way. *click*
Hmm.
So I turned the bus off and went inside and said hey small question how am I supposed to close the door. (There's a 'safety' of sorts above the door that I had to turn off first.)
I drove back to AFIT to pick up my passengers, but at the appointed hour, only five people were aboard, plus a Colonel who wanted to follow in her vehicle. I called the Transportation Committee chair (we're all about different committees on this here WBLS staff) and asked him how many I was supposed to have. He said he didn't know, but heard that the Lt Col in charge of the ACSC staff (about five people) had defied direct orders from the WBLS Chair (the chair!) and taken a separate van. So we waited a few more minutes, picking up a straggler just as I was pulling out, and took the six of us (to include the new vice commandant, a Navy O-6) on our Big Bus to Hawthorne Hill.

Unfortunately, five minutes into our trip, heaven's plumbing sprung a leak, and I again was driving through a horrendous thunderstorm. At least it was only a twenty-minute drive this time. I let my charge off at the front door where the valets were waiting with multiple umbrellas forming a bridge, then parked down the street a few blocks at an elementary school (one of the valets gave me a lift back).

Sipping a Diet Sprite Zero at the bar on the outdoor covered patio, I waited for the rain to die down and the WBLS guests to arrive in their bus (driven by whom, I posed. "A contractor." "Hmph.") and took the time to walk around Orville and his sister Katherine's home (built after Wilbur died in 1912).

One by one the WBLS speakers walked in, though NASA flight director Gene Kranz more barreled in, a mitt of a hand extended to all of us, as he "Hi, Gene Kranz"-ed everyone he could see. Each speaker was assigned an escort, and I was really just the bus driver and tent putter upper and microphone guy, so I didn't feel the need to rub elbows too much. I did chat with some other students until the WBLS chair, circling her beverage glass in a small circle and repeated the motion with the other hand, said to me, "Mingle, mingle!" "I haven't seen Stuart in months!" I told her.
I did try to pick up Homer Hickam's wife's dirty napkin she'd dropped on the floor, but as I arrived, she picked it up herself. "Oh. I was going to do that," I said, but fortunately, after some small talk in a small group, she dropped it again. "I'll cherish this forever!" I said. "Throw that away." "Yes, ma'am."
I also joined in a conversation with Navy CAPT Bob Crippen, who flew on the very first space shuttle in 1981, and his wife Pandora. I also went on the tour of the upstairs and basement of the mansion, joining Hi Gene Kranz and our Commandant, Brig Gen Matthews.
Around nine, while explaining to a rather tipsy Brig Gen Olds that I would be miking him up tomorrow, someone told me I needed to go get the bus to act as Mega-Valet for all the WBLS staff members so they could make one trip down to the parking lot as opposed to many small ones. After a cluster of cars and vans and buses (and the Colonel who followed me backing her car through the lawn), I got everyone to their car, or back to the base, as necessary. Two trips, zero confirmed deaths. As many people put it that night, this would be the one practical skill I learned at AFIT.

Hey, have you seen Gene Kranz anywhere?