Top Secret

Most military pilots have high security clearance. While some pilots use it all the time in their jobs, for others, it’s not often that it’s used and they generally don’t have special information. My husband rarely does anything top secret, I think in the case of a lot of pilots, it’s there just in the event it might be needed. In fact, every few years, he has to get clearance again, so they interview me along with other family and friends… I’ve often thought this would be a really great time to have a little fun and say some crazy (not true) things during the interview… But something tells me it could be a bad idea.

It’s only happened once or twice so far, but sometimes he’ll fly a mission he can’t talk about.  If I read the news, I can usually put 2 and 2 together and figure it out, but even then, he can’t really confirm it.

Sometimes pilots have to “sit alert.” This means that they must be within 25 minutes of the base at all times and usually have to sleep in a hotel/dorm on base if they don’t live there. The idea behind this is that should an emergency arise, a crew is ready to take off and leave immediately. Alert crews aren’t launched often, but when they are, it’s usually an order from somewhere high up. Near a base, you can usually spot an alert crew member by the utility belt of communication tools they have on- that includes a large cell phone and pager.

It’s incredibly inconvenient when your husband has to sit alert. At our current base, alert starts on a Friday and lasts until the following Friday. Any plans have to be within a few minutes of the base (not easy when you consider some base locations) and they can’t be during rush hour at all. The positive side to sitting alert is that when it’s over, he has the whole weekend free and can’t be called to work, which I appreciate.

 These are the missions they can’t talk about if they get launched… In fact, the most important flight of my husband’s career is something he can’t talk about. He can’t even list it as an accomplishment for his file. It also can’t be used for promotions, awards, etc. I’m not even sure his commander knows about that flight... Nice, huh?

We were on vacation when we heard about the team that took out Osama Bin Laden, so I know it’s old news now, but I wanted to mention it. It’s also why I bring up security clearance. There’s a very good chance people will never know who was on that team. I can’t always see why the military does certain things, but this is one time I can. There’s just too much risk involved. I’m pretty sure there were multiple pilots involved who are not Navy SEALs (someone has to transport people and supplies). I'm sure they can't talk about the mission at all but, I’m willing to bet the wives of those soldiers were able to figure out if their husbands were involved.

Even if they weren’t supposed to tell their wives… I bet they know anyway:)