Wanted: Flying Reindeer

I was informed today that within the next 3 years, we will be required to add two more reindeer to the Christmas Eve team. This will be driven by a new larger, but more efficient, sleigh model being delivered from a company in Seattle. With the population growth projections, all the analysis clearly shows that a larger sleigh is the more economical approach rather than simply adding more replenishment points. Also, there is some debate about whether we could squeeze in additional replenishment stops given the already very tight schedule.

This means that as early as next year, we'll need to begin our selection process to choose the two new reindeer that will be added to the team. When we have had to add reindeer in the past, we have open try-outs that are conducted in the form of a 60 day camp. At the end of 60 days, Nova (our manager and trainer for the reindeer teams) and her team of elves and senior reindeer choose 10 reindeer to advance in the selection process. The ten reindeer then train for a full year. It is a full-time commitment with 12 hours a day, 5 days a week of mental and physical drills. At the end of the year, the final two are selected along with 4 alternates. The six selected reindeer then join the primary team as "interns" for a full year before officially taking their first Christmas Eve flight.

Many people probably believe that I have always had the current reindeer team but that is not accurate. My original Christmas Eve flight was with Blitzen and Comet. Over the years, we added two at a time with the exception of when Rudolph joined by himself. We have also had to replace a few reindeer over the years due to retirement, injuries, etc.. Fortunately, we have not had any career-ending injuries but we have had a few that forced us to use our alternates as replacements on occasion. In all, there have been 16 reindeer fly Christmas Eve flights. But the core group remains virtually the same year after year.

Jolly (our Chief Marketing Office) is already pushing for us to turn the try outs into a reality TV show. Don't worry... while I readily embrace the technologies and trends of the day, I am too much of a traditionalist to turn the reindeer games into such a media circus.

So if you think you have the "right stuff" to be one of Santa's reindeer, keep your eyes posted for applications to the 60 day camp.