101 Nights

At one point in my military career I had over 800,000 Marriott points. The crew would walk into the Marriott for that night and there would be a welcome sign with my name on it some where in the lobby. I would usually get a room upgrade to at least a junior suite.

My C-130 squadron as a whole would try to stay at Marriott properties as much as possible. Current Ops would build trips around staying at Marriotts. On the road aircraft commanders would pick Marriotts. It was pretty amazing to walk into a Marriott as a crew, zipper suited gods that we thought we were. For several years after 9/11 most any time the crew walked anywhere in uniform we got a standing ovation. Most days I couldn’t believe I got paid to do this.

There were several years of my life that I spent more time sleeping at a Marriott than I did at home. My wife tended not to mind too much, my paycheck was direct deposited into our checking account. There were some months that I only spent about four days at home. Needless to say I didn’t get much done at home.

Ramstien AFB, Germany

We didn’t always stay at Marriott’s, sometimes we had to stay on base. Not always the worst thing. Some bases are so isolated I hated going off base. Hawaii was one of those places. The base lodging wasn’t so bad, the ocean was right there and there was plenty to do. Staying on Wikki Beach was great but it took over an hour to get there. After a long flight the last thing I wanted to do was spend more time sitting in a confined vehicle.

Westover ARB, Massachusetts

At some point I started to photograph the door leading to my hotel room, including the room number. Then I began to photograph the view outside the room, that was much more interesting. I have hundreds of images looking out my hotel room window of various places around the world. Some spectacular views, some not so pleasant.

Kadena AFB, Japan