BWI - Europe/Southwest Asia
and
SeaTac - Asia
The flights save money since service members and their dependents fly on the charter flight instead of expensive individual tickets. The flights terminate in commercial airports in the US for convenient connections to commercial flights.
The Patriot Express flights are also important for morale, recruiting, and retention. Service members and dependents can travel Space Available on the Patriot Express flights, providing a nearly free way for these young families to travel to their homes in the United States.
PROPOSAL
We propose that DOD/AMC examine the merits of adding domestic flights connecting the BWI and SeaTac portals to other major commercial hubs in the United States in areas with substantial numbers of military personnel. This may save DOD money - a charter or military flight may be a lower cost way to get service members closer to their final destination. It would lower costs for service members and their families on leave to their homes - enhancing morale, recruiting, and retention.
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| Source http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=16979 |
The map below shows the major locations of our troops by State. The red States of California, Texas, and North Carolina are major locations of our bases and troops. The orange States of Georgia and Virginia are nearly as important. And other important States are shown in yellow. Many of our service members and their families are travelling on the Patriot Express to BWI and SeaTac, then travelling by commercial air all over the US, many of them travelling on to the five major States.
We recommend that AMC examine the feasibility of a flight connecting SeaTac and BWI with major commercial hubs that support these states. A logical proposal would be an additional aircraft connecting with the SeaTac and BWI Patriot Express Flights. The commercial Hubs could include SeaTac to LAX to Dallas to Atlanta to Charlotte to BWI.
All of these commercial airports are major hubs and would provide our service members with convenient flights to their final destination. They may lower DOD costs and would lower troop EML leave costs.
Would this approach save money? It may, but it takes an expert from AMC / DOD to determine this. The costs of the new flights would have to be compared with the current cost of individual tickets, and then an estimate of how much individual tickets could be reduced by the new flights. And an additional question is even if it does not save money would be worth it for the morale, recruitment, and retention this approach would engender?
The aircraft used could be a commercial charter or an Air Force plane, what ever is the most cost effective. The size of the aircraft would be driven by demand, but would likely be less than the across the ocean flights since some troops will continue their journey by commercial air or car from SeaTac and BWI.
We are retired military service members with experience with DOD flights and would be glad to provide assistance to AMC / DOD with this study.
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Your improvements are appreciated. All of us are smarter than some of us. You can make your comments on the Pepperd site or by email to me. I will submit it to AMC. If anyone has knowledge of current AMC personnel and are willing to help submit this proposal I would appreciate the help.
Craig Hullinger
Marine Retired
craighullinger@gmail.com
craighullinger.com
SpaceA.us