:rofl1:Well, I am a total mess, but that's another story:lmao:
The military (and other Gov't agencies) have "executive aircraft" that we the taxpayer, are already paying for:thumbsup:
These aircraft are as nice, and in many cases, nicer, than commercial aircraft, and could be used without incurring additional taxpayer cost.

Cost aside, even using commercial aircraft, why not simply have them land at a military facility, pick up the troop once they've been cleared by an appointed offical within thier command, transport them wherever, then land at another military facility.

No civilians involved (other than the flight crew), they go point "A" to Point "B" where they'll be debriefed, medically cleared, etc (any outprocessing they need to do) and are reunited with thier families in private!

By having one person (or team) designated as the Customs POC, you have a single POC and total accountability for the troops, without subjecting each and every one of them individually, to the rediculous TSA BS in public!

By using this method, it's no different than having a captain held responsible for the actions of his/her ship and crew.:thumbsup:

Been there, lived there and expert enough not to go back there. :D Man, that looks brutal. Heil, it is brutal.

Well for one thing you're usually talking about several hundred troops and small aircraft. I have no clue what aircraft the brass flies in.

I am guessing the majority of military fields are to short for civilian aircraft. That again is a guess. Maybe I can Google that and come up with something. Your post makes too much sense so there must be a good reason not to do that. Right? :rofl1:

That's (one reason) why I could never be a politician.
They lack common sense.

We're not talking about small aircraft.

Most military airfields, even those in the box, will accomodate a large transport. As such, any civilian airliner short of a 767 should be able to get in and out with ease:thumbsup:

The worse case scenario?

They might have to turn over the controls on take off and landing to a military pilot. Hell, cruise ships do this all the time!
You don't think Capt'n Ahab is actually docking his own ship to you?:lmao:

Hell no:NoNo:
It's a harbor pilot. Someone who is intimately familiar with the waters:thumbsup:
As for the types of aircraft, I forget the designations, but As I recall, they were using 707's in the day, 727's, etc, and A300 Airbusses (or the equivalent). Pretty much what you'll see on a common passenger flight, the military has an eqivalent.:thumbsup:

My son has a book of U.S. Military aircraft. Shows pretty much everything we have.

TSA is unbelievable sometimes. I understand they have a job to do but dayum! When I deployed to the middle east for the first gulf war, we flew over on a military C-5 Galaxy and flew back on a civilian 747. Back then (pre 911) there was no problem with customs either way.

Most, if not all, civilian airlines can be pressed into service by the military if need be. But the ops tempo now is insane and the military airlifters are hard pressed to meet their commitments. It may simply be that there were no military aircraft available during the required time frame. It's hard to say.:shrug01: Whatever the case, your frustration level is gonna be pretty high when you encounter situations like that.

And how much did you enjoy the long haul in the C5?

It was actually not bad. We sat in the upper deck in airline type seats. All that was missing were windows and flight attendants. I've flown in C-141's, KC-135's, and C-130's and they used jump seats along the fuselage of the aircraft. Not good at all for long trips.:nonod:

I was assuming jump seats in the C5. I've worked on all of these (electronics) and never have seen that configuration. Thanks Mark.

That's what we used....sucked on long hauls.