31 Oct 09
I made it to my final destination a few days ago, safe and sound. It has been a weird experience flying to the other side of the world and joing an international community at this particular location. For safety reasons I will not state exactly where I am located or what I am doing, but I will try to keep you informed and amused with my activities. So let's get you caught up...
(1) We flew through New Hamshire on the way to Germany and then the Middle East. At the airport in NH a large group of USO and VFW members came out to greet us and serve us coffee and send us off again. It was great. Not to mention it was at 2:30am their time. What a blessing those volunteers were to us. And I'm looking forward to seeing them on the return trip, too! They presented the Chaplain with free phone cards for all the Soldiers, too. I got to be Santa back on board the airplane.
(2) The plane flight was exhausting. See the pictures. We all but missed a full day by flying East like that. We stayed about 2 hours in Germany at the airport and then kepy going. It felt like daylight for a few hours and then it was night again. We landed at another location for a temporary stop for 6-8 hours before moving on again. We shared space in a big open bay with Soldiers from Poland. My first experience with the coalition forces over here.
(3) Home sweet home... or at least for awhile. The Chaplain and his assistant greeted us when we finally landed here at our destination. The final flight was aboard an Air Force jet. We all sat in those net cargo seats, and the engine was deafening (but we all had ear plugs in and it made it easier). However, my body armor (which we all had to wear), was pushing down on my bladder and it made for a very long flight (since there is no potty on those things!!)
Anyway, we got here and finally got settled into our rooms.
(4) My room: The pictures will not do it justice, but we are all now in wooden shacks built years ago to house our forces. It's like a shanty town where we are living. The walls are plywood. I have a space about 10x8, which is feels like a prison cell (but with no toilet!). The bathroom is a port-a-john right outside my hut, and the showers are about 100 yards away. Right now there is a lot of construction going on here and everything is dirty. Dust is everywhere. They make us wash our hands before going into the mess hall for meals, but other than that, this is a pretty dirty place! Bottled water and hand sanitizer is very prevalent here!
(5) Tidbits of information: (a) We had an earth quake here a few nights ago, but I missed it. They said it was a 6.0 on the scale, but I was at the gym on a treadmill, so I never felt a thing. (b) The only laundry available is to have it sent out with a service here which utilized local national workers. I hear they steal things every now and then, especially women's underwear. Some of our female Soldiers are pretty uncomfortable about that. I don't mind. They can steal my women's underwear all they want! (c) And finally, the food here is unbelievable! There are several dining halls here and they are all like eating at Luby's! There is so much food served here it is mind-boggling. And some of it is actually pretty good! I can see why some Soldiers gain weight on these deployments.
Gotta run for now. I'll post more soon. See ya....
I made it to my final destination a few days ago, safe and sound. It has been a weird experience flying to the other side of the world and joing an international community at this particular location. For safety reasons I will not state exactly where I am located or what I am doing, but I will try to keep you informed and amused with my activities. So let's get you caught up...
(1) We flew through New Hamshire on the way to Germany and then the Middle East. At the airport in NH a large group of USO and VFW members came out to greet us and serve us coffee and send us off again. It was great. Not to mention it was at 2:30am their time. What a blessing those volunteers were to us. And I'm looking forward to seeing them on the return trip, too! They presented the Chaplain with free phone cards for all the Soldiers, too. I got to be Santa back on board the airplane.
(2) The plane flight was exhausting. See the pictures. We all but missed a full day by flying East like that. We stayed about 2 hours in Germany at the airport and then kepy going. It felt like daylight for a few hours and then it was night again. We landed at another location for a temporary stop for 6-8 hours before moving on again. We shared space in a big open bay with Soldiers from Poland. My first experience with the coalition forces over here.
(3) Home sweet home... or at least for awhile. The Chaplain and his assistant greeted us when we finally landed here at our destination. The final flight was aboard an Air Force jet. We all sat in those net cargo seats, and the engine was deafening (but we all had ear plugs in and it made it easier). However, my body armor (which we all had to wear), was pushing down on my bladder and it made for a very long flight (since there is no potty on those things!!)
Anyway, we got here and finally got settled into our rooms.
(4) My room: The pictures will not do it justice, but we are all now in wooden shacks built years ago to house our forces. It's like a shanty town where we are living. The walls are plywood. I have a space about 10x8, which is feels like a prison cell (but with no toilet!). The bathroom is a port-a-john right outside my hut, and the showers are about 100 yards away. Right now there is a lot of construction going on here and everything is dirty. Dust is everywhere. They make us wash our hands before going into the mess hall for meals, but other than that, this is a pretty dirty place! Bottled water and hand sanitizer is very prevalent here!
(5) Tidbits of information: (a) We had an earth quake here a few nights ago, but I missed it. They said it was a 6.0 on the scale, but I was at the gym on a treadmill, so I never felt a thing. (b) The only laundry available is to have it sent out with a service here which utilized local national workers. I hear they steal things every now and then, especially women's underwear. Some of our female Soldiers are pretty uncomfortable about that. I don't mind. They can steal my women's underwear all they want! (c) And finally, the food here is unbelievable! There are several dining halls here and they are all like eating at Luby's! There is so much food served here it is mind-boggling. And some of it is actually pretty good! I can see why some Soldiers gain weight on these deployments.
Gotta run for now. I'll post more soon. See ya....
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