December 18, 1995
Web posted at: 8:10 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Bill Delaney
RHEIN-MAIN AIR BASE, Germany (CNN) -- Troops of the U.S. 3rd Corps Support Command already knew the drill by the time they headed for Hungary from Wiesbaden, Germany. Twice since Friday they'd gotten on trains and been turned back minutes later by delays at the Czech border.
For the soldiers, it was tedious. "They tell you that you gonna go, and you don't go," said Staff Sgt. Renetia Jackson. "They take us on the joy ride, and all of sudden we're back here at square one." (119K AIFF sound or 119K WAV sound)
Finally, on Monday they really took off just as more troops did from other military bases scattered around Germany. They left by rail, by road, by bus. Departure points held long waits, tearful farewells and hearty waves.
And there was weariness -- after so many false alarms, some soldiers said that leaving seemed almost a relief.
At Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt, flights increased dramatically from mid-afternoon Sunday to mid-day Monday. Planes took off nearly every hour carrying a million pounds of cargo -- some to Sarajevo in Bosnia, but most to staging bases in Hungary.
The bustle of activity trailed off later Monday for a few hours, after the Air Force made up its back-log of flights.
"Once the weather broke, we got real busy, flew a lot of flights, and now we're looking forward to continuing a regular schedule of flights," said Major Thomas Dolney. (145K AIFF sound or 145K WAV sound)
If the cargo was ready, Dolney said, the Air Force was prepared to send up to one C-141 plane and one C-17 plane each hour.
And, Air Force officials say, with radar systems now installed in Hungary and Bosnia, the weather should be less of a problem -- although it could still shut down transports for days.
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