SPAM!

During my time in the MEDEVAC in Germany, we pulled med duty at both Grafenwohr and Hohenfels any time there was training going on.  The crews would go out and stay for about a week at a hooch that had been established there until the next crew came out at the end of a week to rotate.

Since most rotations were pretty quiet (a very good thing), we did quite a few training flights while we were out there.  The first rotation I was on, I was actually doing my refresher training since it had been a year since I had flown.  During one of our training flights, we had left one of the pilots at the hooch (we had three out on the rotation with us).  As we were landing and shutting down, we saw fire trucks screaming down the road next to the flight line. 

Our first thought was that the trucks were heading the hangar that the OC (Observer-Controllers) used for their aircraft.  That thought went out the window when the trucks turned in next to the hooch.  The aircraft was almost completely shut down, so the pilot told us to go see what was going on. 

We quickly headed down off the flight line and worked our way around the fire trucks to see what was going on.  As we walked around to the front of the hooch, we could see fans running in the doorways.  Finally, we saw the pilot who had been there and a couple of the firefighters. 

Apparently, the whole ruckus had been caused by some SPAM that had been overcooked and started smoking bad enough that it had set off the detectors.  Since it was the middle of January, leaving the doors and windows weren't the best option so the rest of the week it smelled like burnt SPAM throughout the hooch.  The pilot left there with a new nickname and a few pictures to remember the event by....