Made It At Last

Saturday, 12 July 2008

We’re in the Middle East! As we flew east and south out of Turkey, the mountains and clouds gave way to hazy desert sand. The sky became thick with summer dust, and you could see what I remember as farmers fields covered with wind-blown dunes. The Tigris and Euphrates wind their way south through Iraq eventually ending up in the Persian Gulf, and we followed their courses through the country, past Baghdad and Basra to our destination.

We were actually in a bit of a race with our sister ship. We took off about 5 minutes ahead of them, but we were both filed over the same route. Being that close prevents us from being at the same altitude, so we were spaced 2,000 feet apart. We climbed as high as we could so both of us would be safe from any wayward missiles that might be directed our way, but that put us above our most efficient performance altitude, so we really slugged along, allowing our partner to eventually pass us and catch us. For several hundred miles we were stacked one above the other, and we were able to get quite a few good pictures of each other.

Upon landing, we were hit by the heat! After engine shut-down, we opened the crew doors and the heat and humidity hit us full in the face. It was 6 o’clock and over 100 degrees! The bus issue raised its head again. Another hour wait sweltering on the ramp while they tracked down some transportation. Amazing that you have these problems with all the advance notice we provide.

Our next stop was in-processing (remember the out-processing at home?) and then customs inspection by the local police. They scanned our bags and cargo and inspected anything that looked suspicious. I baffled them completely when they came to the dehumidifier I lugged along. I’m sure they were convinced it was some beer making machine or something with all it’s coils and electronics, but I eventually convinced them it was for taking water out of the air, NOT for distilling… of course the sideshow staged by the contractor getting nabbed for trying to sneak porn into the country provided enough distraction to eventually give me the A-0K.

As the Assistant Director of C-130 Flight Operations, I am in a pseudo-leadership position and actually rate a pretty decent room. The guy I will be working for met me as I exited the Customs shed, tossed my gear in his pick-up and drove me to my room in the “High-rent” district. The best part of the room is the bathroom I share with my nextdoor neighbor! I get a bathroom!!! As a crew dog, the bathrooms are a couple minutes walk away… outside in a trailer… in a bed of pea-gravel you usually have to navigate half-asleep in flip-flops or Tevas…. Not easy when your bladder decides it needs relief from the water you’ve been drinking all day.

The final event of the day was heading over to the BRA, the big activity tent where people hang out when their not working. Unlike other places in the theater, on this base we are allowed 3 alcoholic drinks a day, which they track like hawks through the use of a “Beer Card,” and machines to scan your ID. I met up with some of the guys from the ‘burgh and we shared our first beers back in the combat zone, talked about the changes, and mostly about how much hadn’t changed since our last deployments here 2-1/2 years ago.