Slugs in Stuttgart
Unless you have lived or worked in the Washington D.C. area you most likely are unfamiliar with the commuting phenomenon known as 'slugging.' I was first introduced to slugging the Summer of 1998 when I was in the D.C. area working as a summer intern for the Air Force Audit Agency. I was living with my dad and stepmom in Springfield, Va. We caught our bus to the Pentagon at a stop just up the road from their townhouse. Several times during that summer a gentleman from the neighborhood would be on his way to work and he would stop and pick us up, giving him enough passengers to ride in the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane. He'd deposit us at the Pentagon and then continue on to his office.
There is a formal process for those choosing to slug daily. There are assigned parking lots all over the commuting area where people gather and stand in specific lines, depending on where they are going. Drivers come up and pick up passengers, whoever is next in line. It works in reverse too. For example in the Pentagon parking lot there is a designated place where 'slugs' line up and await their host drivers returning to their point of origin. It is a well oiled machine and despite the fact that people are getting into vehicles with complete strangers I have never heard of any incidents. There is even slug protocol as you are not to start a conversation unless the driver initiates it and you can not ask that the radio station be changed. You probably can't ask the driver not to smoke in their car either.
So, imagine my surprise to arrive in Stuttgart and discover that a 'slug' type system exists here. I am living and working on Kelley Barracks but many of the things I'm having to do for in-processing are on Patch Barracks and Panzer Kaserne. There is also Robinson Barracks, which is mainly military housing. The transportation office has shuttle buses that run between the different installations and that's how I've been getting around the last few days. The very first time Tom and I rode the shuttle we were waiting at the bus stop here at Kelley and a truck pulled up. The driver got out and asked if anyone was going to Patch and one gentleman stepped forward, got in his vehicle and away they went.
Well this happened twice yesterday; this time benefiting me. I was out at Panzer for most of the day doing my Central In-Processing and when I was waiting for the shuttle (which would have been about a 45-60 minute trip back to Kelley), a guy drove up and asked if anyone was going to Kelley. Well there were two of us, and so we hopped in his car and away we went. Turns out the driver works in the same building as me, same floor and just two doors down. He is the Science and Technology adviser for U.S. Africa Command.
Late yesterday afternoon, Tom and I were at Panzer again. We saw our first apartment and then stopped at Panzer to do a quick trip through the Post Exchange, kind of like a Wal-Mart without the Super. While waiting for the shuttle a driver asked if anyone was going to Kelley. There were three of us and fortunately he had room for three. Picking up random passengers does not benefit the driver, as there are not HOV lanes here, but it is just drivers taking pity on folks that are in store for a lengthy shuttle bus ride. Many do it because they spent weeks using the shuttle buses themselves. Tom says we'll have to return the favor once we get our vehicle.
The coolest thing about this afternoon slug ride was that during the drive to Kelley we learned that the additional passenger is the NCOIC (noncommissioned officer in charge) of Reserve Affairs for U.S. Africa Command. This was absolutely a God thing as Tom had been intending to look for the Reserve Affairs Office because he wants to see if he can get slotted into a position. What a blessing that we didn't even have to go looking but the Lord brought us together. It serves as just another reminder that Tom and I remain on the Lord's path for our lives and that the Lord works in mysterious ways, even in the slug lanes of Stuttgart.
There is a formal process for those choosing to slug daily. There are assigned parking lots all over the commuting area where people gather and stand in specific lines, depending on where they are going. Drivers come up and pick up passengers, whoever is next in line. It works in reverse too. For example in the Pentagon parking lot there is a designated place where 'slugs' line up and await their host drivers returning to their point of origin. It is a well oiled machine and despite the fact that people are getting into vehicles with complete strangers I have never heard of any incidents. There is even slug protocol as you are not to start a conversation unless the driver initiates it and you can not ask that the radio station be changed. You probably can't ask the driver not to smoke in their car either.
So, imagine my surprise to arrive in Stuttgart and discover that a 'slug' type system exists here. I am living and working on Kelley Barracks but many of the things I'm having to do for in-processing are on Patch Barracks and Panzer Kaserne. There is also Robinson Barracks, which is mainly military housing. The transportation office has shuttle buses that run between the different installations and that's how I've been getting around the last few days. The very first time Tom and I rode the shuttle we were waiting at the bus stop here at Kelley and a truck pulled up. The driver got out and asked if anyone was going to Patch and one gentleman stepped forward, got in his vehicle and away they went.
Well this happened twice yesterday; this time benefiting me. I was out at Panzer for most of the day doing my Central In-Processing and when I was waiting for the shuttle (which would have been about a 45-60 minute trip back to Kelley), a guy drove up and asked if anyone was going to Kelley. Well there were two of us, and so we hopped in his car and away we went. Turns out the driver works in the same building as me, same floor and just two doors down. He is the Science and Technology adviser for U.S. Africa Command.
Late yesterday afternoon, Tom and I were at Panzer again. We saw our first apartment and then stopped at Panzer to do a quick trip through the Post Exchange, kind of like a Wal-Mart without the Super. While waiting for the shuttle a driver asked if anyone was going to Kelley. There were three of us and fortunately he had room for three. Picking up random passengers does not benefit the driver, as there are not HOV lanes here, but it is just drivers taking pity on folks that are in store for a lengthy shuttle bus ride. Many do it because they spent weeks using the shuttle buses themselves. Tom says we'll have to return the favor once we get our vehicle.
The coolest thing about this afternoon slug ride was that during the drive to Kelley we learned that the additional passenger is the NCOIC (noncommissioned officer in charge) of Reserve Affairs for U.S. Africa Command. This was absolutely a God thing as Tom had been intending to look for the Reserve Affairs Office because he wants to see if he can get slotted into a position. What a blessing that we didn't even have to go looking but the Lord brought us together. It serves as just another reminder that Tom and I remain on the Lord's path for our lives and that the Lord works in mysterious ways, even in the slug lanes of Stuttgart.
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