Finally, The Complete Trip

Here is the complete story of my trip home, with photos.  Much of this appeared earlier, but now it’s all in one posting.  Enjoy.

 

8 May 2007

     It is currently 4 AM in the morning, and I am sitting on the porch of Air Force One, the “club” on KAIA.  It has a wireless network, which explains why I was able to post a brief note on AWAC.  The trip to this point has been painful, and promises to get worse, as we inch our way home.  Here, as promised, are the gruesome details.

     It all started at the awards ceremony Saturday morning.  Right after it ended, we expected to head home and enjoy our last afternoon at Phoenix, as our plane was supposed to leave early Monday morning.  However, we got word that our flight had been screwed up, and we should stand by and wait for word.  So we spent Saturday wondering if we were leaving that evening for KAIA.  At 10 AM we were suddenly told that we were leaving at 2 PM. Yay!   The four amigos headed to the chow hall for lunch, and as we were finishing at 1 PM, we were told the flight was delayed again, and we’d be spending another night.  We unpacked some stuff for the night, much to the chagrin of our replacements, who are more than ready to move into our huts. 

     Monday morning at 9 AM we were told we would be leaving at 4 PM.  So we all settled back into bed (no point in getting up) but at 10 AM we were told we’d be leaving in two hours!  Better yet, our plane would not be leaving until 8 AM on Tuesday (so yes, we’d be waiting at KAIA for almost 24 hours!).  By now we were pretty good at these two-hour drills, so there was no panic.

Getting ready to board the trucks

     We showed up at our meeting place, only to learn that we were delayed another 30 minutes.  Off to chow for a final Taco meal.  When we got back at 12:30 we learned that a truck had broken down, so we settled in for another wait.  One hour later, we finally boarded trucks and headed over to KAIA.  For the first time ever , I rode in the back of a deuce and a half truck, which means I got to sit on a wooden bench looking out to the sides from a much higher vantage point than I’ve ever had.  Roads I’ve traveled over 300 times looked completely different.  We were able to see over the stone walls that surrounded everything.  We could see into the many tiny shops that lined the road.

Palletizing our bags   

     Once we arrived at KAIA around 3 PM, we moved our gear into a tent containing 16 bunks.   We would have to entertain ourselves until 6 AM the next morning.  There were six tents like ours, and a whopping two, count ‘em, two showers for the populace.  However, most of our people chose to wait on showers until we got to Manas, so I had no trouble getting one.  After that I managed to sleep for about six hours, though it was not a restful sleep, and I woke up many times.  I woke up at 3 AM, and took my gear to the porch of Air Force One, and started recording my journey.

     Although I am further along in the trip now, I will purposely keep my record a couple of days in the past for security reasons.  I will add that since we seem to spend close to a day at each stop waiting for the next plane, by the time we actually take off, all fear of flying is completely lost in exhaustion.  All you can think about is:

- I’m tired, hungry, and dirty

- The trip ahead promises to be endless

- Death might not be such a bad alternative

10 May 2007

     I’m back!  Currently enjoying the luxury of a brand new hotel in Baltimore with the zippiest internet connection I’ve seen in a year. 

Here’s the timeline so far; all times are local.

Monday, 1300 - Departed Phoenix for the last time

Tuesday, 0800 - Departed KAIA for Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan

Wednesday, 0800 - Departed Manas AB for Baltimore Int Airport

And after 27 hours, we finally arrived in Baltimore!  I checked into a hotel about 1 AM on the 10^th, and am now recording this since it would be pointless to go to sleep now.

     Lets go back to our time at Manas.  We were delighted to finally leave Afghanistan, but this was tempered by the fact that we still had a very long trip ahead of us.  We knew we would be spending at least a day in Manas, so we still had a long way to go.  We also kept hoping that our plane would not be delayed, as people often spend days in Manas, which we did not want to do.

Luxury at Manas

     Our billeting turned out to be a huge (and I do mean huge) tent that had well over 100 bunk beds in it.  Sleeping would be a joke here, so I never even tried.  The first thing we did was head over to the chow hall for lunch.  On our way over here, I remember hating the food here, and I was not excited about eating.  The hamburgers looked a little better than the ones at Phoenix, but they weren’t real 100% beef.  They did have very good curly fries, but other than that nothing special, at least not until we got to the drinks.  They had Lipton Ice Tea in cans!  But even better, once we sat down, Rat pointed to an ice chest.

     “I think they actually have ice cubes!” he exclaimed.

     I turned and looked, and I think a tear came to my eye.  I grabbed a glass, and headed over.  Sure enough, there was ice for the taking! Obscene amenities were starting to show up.  Not only did we have ice, we had real plates and silverware.  Ahhh, such decadence.  After eating, we headed out, and saw shelves loaded with a very good selection of candy bars, free for the taking!  Limit two per person please.  It’s hard to believe guys stationed here get the same imminent danger pay we get.  They don’t carry weapons, and as far as I know they’ve never been attacked by anyone.

Drew, Lt Col Brown, and Mike

     That night we went to the “club” where beer was actually served.  Again, a limit of two per person, but the guys were excited to finally get a beer.  I even bought one, just because I could, a fine, $2 Russian light beer.  I don’t like beer, but I drank it all, just on principle.  Mike decided to try stacking beer bottles, without much success.  That was as wild as our night got.

     Our show time for the flight was 2 AM, for a 8 AM departure.  Yes, we got to sit around for six hours doing nothing.  How the minutes crawled by.  This was the part I dreaded the most.  At least on a plane you were moving, and could sleep or watch movies.  Here, you just suffered, hoping your plane wasn’t delayed.

     Finally, we boarded, and began the final leg of our trip as a group.  We were scheduled to stop in Germany, Ireland, and NY before getting to Baltimore.  This is at least one more stop than we thought necessary, and we settled in to endure a marathon flight.  Shortly after taking off, we learned that we would get an extra stop, this time in Azerbaijan!  Imagine our excitement.  We were even happier once we landed, and the pilot announced that we had arrived, but no one knew why we had landed there.  I kid you not.  I assume we got fuel and food, but to this day I doubt if anyone knows if we really needed to be there.

Holiday Inns are everywhere, even Azerbaijan

     Our next stop was at Ramstein AB Germany, a place I had lived at for three years.  I didn’t get to see much, but it did bring back memories.  Back on the plane again, and off to Shannon, Ireland.  This was a much-anticipated stop, as beer was available here in unlimited quantities.  Drew had at least ten Guinness’s (he lost count) but can handle his alcohol well.  He didn’t weave at all as he walked.  Another Captain (not one of the amigos) only had six and could barely walk.  He was totally smashed.  One more and I think he would have passed out.

A rainbow we saw just before leaving Ireland  

     After a delay of almost an hour for mechanical problems, we finally headed off.  We were delighted to hear that we would be skipping the next stop in NY, and would head directly to Baltimore.  I was able to sleep most of the way, so after only an hour of consciousness, we finally touched down in the USA.  You might imagine there were loud cheers, but there weren’t.  We had been on the road for exactly three and a half days, and had just finished a 27-hour flight.  Our life-force had been drained, and a group of zombies shuffled off the plane, grabbed our bags, and headed off to the hotel.  It was about midnight, and my plane departed at 7:30.  Although tempted to just stay at the airport, I decided going to a hotel, even for a few hours, was worth the effort.  One guy called it the $100 shower.

Off to the hotel

     Since I had just slept on the plane, I wasn’t even tired, so I got cleaned up, put on a clean uniform, and drank lots of coffee and enjoyed an episode of Myth Busters.  Then back to the airport, a flight to Chicago, a three-hour layover, and a flight to Nashville.  Finally, my flights were over.  If I never get on a plane again, it will be too soon.

     Jancy and Elise met me at the gate, and finally, we were reunited.  Everything after that was uneventful, and soon I was home again.  There I will stop, and when I feel motivated, I will write about my adjustment to home life.  Rat, Drew, and Mike are all home safely now, so I’m going to have to smoke that cigar soon.

Comments

[akram]

hi nice work capt I was capt toomer's interprator thans bye.

[Blaez]

welcome back! welcome home! *hootin and hollarin*

[Solo]

:) A big ol' WELCOME HOME to all you guys!!!! My thanks, and my gratitude goes out to you, and your families, for all you have given.

[Matti]

What a great post! I love the pictures. Welcome home you guys!

[Rosemary]

It all fits together better now that you have compiled your trip. Wow, I don't know if I could that!

Welcome home to your family and your country. We are so very grateful you are our citizen. The same for Mike, Rat, and Lt. Col. Brown (and everyone else!). God bless you.

[Rejenia]

Pictures of Doug and Drew are up on the radio station's website. I was going to drive up from Austin, but our company servers crashed Friday morning, so I spent Friday night and the weekend rebuilding servers instead of partying. Glad everyone is home, and safe. Enjoy the days, and know how grateful I am that we have people like you and your families serving.

[Donna, Los Osos, CA]

Giggling like a girl (wait, I am a girl, er woman) she shouts... "WELCOME HOME!" It is such great news you are all safe at home.

[Donna, Los Osos, CA]

Welcome Home! Thank you. Welcome Home all of you!

[Lynette]

Welcome Home.