Friday would be the last day we would see the IACE group (they head south to St Mary’s for the remainder of their stay in Maryland after today’s activity).   Our guests have become part of the family and it would be very quiet around the house without them.

We met them early in the morning at Maryland Wing headquarters (they had spent the night at Col. Weiss’ home and he brought them down to Wing).  Today’s activity was a tour of Andrews Air Force Base, thanks to 2nd Lt. Don Ells (SSgt, USAF) who coordinated the event.  We were joined by members of the Fort McHenry Composite Squadron — Lt Col Jim Steinmeier, Lt Col Gussie Bouldin, TSGT Moore, Lt Chris Striker, C/Maj Charlie Frater, C/Amn Watson, C/Amn Bennett, and C/SSgt Gleichauff.

Our guests with members of the Fort McHenry Composite Squadron

We drove down to Andrews and waited at the gate…and waited…and waited…   Since we were a group, we were told to go to the side gate where all the trucks enter — all the trucks gets searched.  And, since we were headed to the flight line, we had the extra search with the K9 unit.  We all got out of the two vans and watched as the dog searched our vehicles (note:  we would see this dog later in the day).  Our tour guide boarded the first van and gave us a windshield tour of the base, pointing our various buildings along the way.

Our first stop would be at the 1st Helicopter Squadron where we received a briefing and a tour of the hangar with a up close hands on experience with a UH-1N Huey helicopter.  As was our custom by now, we took lots of photos while there.

Yariv, Sharon, and Tom at the Huey

Since we were ahead of schedule, our tour guide took us to the base Starbucks for some refreshment before heading off the the K9 demonstration.   We learned about the training of the dogs and their mission of searching for bombs, drugs, or whatever else they are trained to do.  The dogs (and their handlers) demonstrated how they would arrest a suspect (including the dog pulling the suspect out of the car window!).  Nate got suited up in a well padded jacket for training — but they were kind and didn’t tell the dogs to attack.  In all, we saw three different dogs (including the one we had previously seen at our vans doing his job!).  The K9 unit personnel were very patient as we asked many, many questions.  (While the USAF personnel were in the full sun and heat answering our questions, the dogs were in the air conditioned police vehicles — they are the true masters of the K9 unit!).

K9 demonstration at Andrews AFB

By this time our stomachs were telling us that it was lunch time so we headed off for the base club for their buffet lunch.  We were joined by Lt Col John Knowles, the Maryland Wing vice commander, who works nearby.  Lt Col Knowles had already heard stories of our IACE group from his daughter, Rachel, who had spent the day with them Sunday.

Refreshed from both the food and airconditioning, we stopped at the base uniform supply before heading to our next destination — Operations and the control tower.   Here we had briefings on the operations of the flight line, weather, and met Bree, the bird chasing dog that keeps the geese off the flight line.   We then went up to the top of the control tower.  The views were spectacular, with a good view of the Air Force One hangar.  While in the tower, we air traffic controllers spent a lot of time with us explaining how they track aircraft and communicate with them.  We were treated to some up-close and personal views of Hueys and a Blackhawk as they made a close pass by the tower.  All too soon it was time to head down and meet up with the rest of the group.

Eddie in the control tower

From there we said good bye to the Fort McHenry squadron as we headed south.  We met 1st Lt Dave Webster and C/2nd Lt Peter Webster at a mid-way point, where we introduced them to our IACE guests.  It was difficult to say good-bye to our new friends and watch them head south on the next leg of their journey.  We have had a great time with them and have memories that will last a lifetime.  We all became Facebook friends and promised to keep in touch.

Saying goodbye before the group heads south

They plan to keep up with the blog while in St. Mary’s before returning to Washington, DC, on Monday.

~Brenda