A friend of mine suggested I do a day in the life blog so here it is. Basically a day here is just like a day back home except that I am in Iraq and in the Army.
I start my day around 0700 when I wake up and do all my morning things such as getting my uniform on. I have to walk about 150 feet to use the bathroom and brush my teeth and shave. We have running water in the latrine trailer and in the shower trailer but it is non-potable which means you cannot drink it or use it for brushing your teeth. You have to use bottled water to brush your teeth which is annoying. There are pallets of 2 liter plastic water bottles between the shower trailer and the latrine so it is not too much of a pain in the ass but I look forward to the day that I can go to a sink and grab a glass of water. Once I am all ready I make sure I have my ID, dog tags and my rifle and head off to chow. You have to have your ID and rifle w/a 30rd magazine with you at all times even when you are wearing your Pt's ( Physical training uniform=shorts, t-shirt and running shoes ). It was an adjustment at first but after almost 4 months of doing it I feel naked without my rifle. Some people have had a hard time with it and have actually left their rifles in places they should not have. The result of that is you get to have your rifle tied to you for 30 days, even when you are showering. We have one guy that has left his rifle 3 separate times, I think he will be spending the whole deployment with his rifle tied to him.
The chow hall, gym and PX are all clustered together and they are about half a mile away from our SHU. It is not a bad arrangement but it is made bad by some of the stupid rules the host unit here has imposed. The host unit is the main active duty unit that is stationed on whatever FOB you happen to be stationed at. In our case it is the 6/9 cavalry from Texas. Basically the rules that I am referring to make that 1/2 mile walk a frequent occurrence during the day. It goes like this, you can wear your pt uniform into the chow hall and into the gym but not into the PX. Although you cannot go into the chow hall in your Pt's when they are sweaty so that means you cannot go and work out then go and eat. If you want to work out before you eat you have to go back to your SHU and change. Why not bring an extra shirt with you to the gym you might ask, because you cannot carry clothes into the chow hall. If you are in your uniform you can use the PX , the gym and go to the chow hall. But you cannot go to the PX then to the chow hall because you also can not carry any type of bag into the chow hall. This all may not seem too bad but when you are on a tight schedule and you want to go to the gym and you need something from the PX and you want to eat it gets pretty annoying. Another rule that we have here that we are all finding rather comical is that when you are wearing your PT uniform at anytime or your uniform after 1800 you have to wear a fluorescent glow in the dark safety belt. Not like we are in a combat zone or anyting, we refer to it as the sniper belt, meaning that it makes us all glowing targets. Though I will admit that it is really not that bad here as far as the threat level here on base but when I thought of coming to Iraq to fight in the war I did not think I would be wearing a glowing belt at night.
After a modest breakfast of watermelon and french toast sticks :) I walk over to the local bus stop. The base here is so huge that they have these little buses that run every 15 minutes 24 hours a day.The buses are driven by KBR employees, we call the buses scooby buses, I don't know why. Anyways there are three different routes that pretty much encompass the whole base. There is the red line, the green line and the blue line. So I jump on my bus and head off to work which starts at 0900.
Basically I am working here as an assistant to the supply sergeant, it is pretty damn boring. The only respite I get from this is when we go on re-supply missions for the teams. Then I get to roll out as the gunner on my MRAP, more on that another time. My day consists of sitting around waiting to do something. Our "office " is inside an old Iraq Army bunker. These bunkers are squat, 1 story, thick concrete shelters. There are 4 big rooms inside and in each room we have built wood walls to create separate offices. My job pretty much is comprised of doing everything that the supply sergeant does not want to do. He is a good guy so it not like he is screwing me or anything. But when it comes to running outside to retrieve stuff from the connexes when someone needs something it is I that does the running. Our connexes are about 200 feet away in the motor pool ( Motor pool= place we park all our trucks) area of our shop. Not very exciting at all, not exactly what I thought I would be doing when I volunteered to come here. Anyways I work from 0900 to 1200 then I take the bus to the gym and lift weights for 45 minutes then stroll over to the chow hall and grab a light lunch then back to the bunker. After lunch I work from 1330 to 1700,1800 ish. Although lately my buddies and I have been forming a coup and escaping at 1630 to go either to the gym to run on the treadmills or go for ruck marches outside.Sometimes if there is something going on we have to work extended hours which has been the case here lately but that will be changing in a week or so.
After evening PT we change our PT shirts and go grab dinner chow then come back to the SHU and hang out. I will usually check my e-mails and all that sort of thing then I either spend some time working on my Army correspondence courses or watching movies on my computer. Army correspondence courses are Army skill classes you can take online that equal out to promotion points for when you are trying to get your sergeant stripes. Which hopefully is something that I will be getting in the not too distant future. Army rank in the National Guard and in the Army is awarded through a point system for the ranks of E-5 and above. So when you are competing with all the E-4's in the state of Michigan for just a few sergeant slots it helps to have as many points as possible. I actually already have quite a few due to all the schools I have been to and with my Desert Storm experience.
So that pretty much explains a typical day for me here at COS Sykes, it really is not that exciting. Although we went on our first re-supply mission the other day and I have to admit it got the old heart racing but more on that in a different blog post.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Welcome to Iraq
Finally after a rather boring stay at Camp Virginia we were told that we definitely had a flight out of Kuwait and that we had to be up at 0300 to finish packing and load the now hated semi truck. The truck and buses showed up at 0500 to take us back to the airfield. Once at the airfield we were put back into the tents from the day before which did nothing to convince us that we would actually be leaving that accursed place anytime soon. But to our surprise the KBR representative that is in charge of scheduling and departures came into the tent about 2 hours later and gave us the loading brief. The brief was humorous because it was the same rules that apply to civilian aircraft such as you cant bring weapons or explosives or liquids onto the plane. This was ridiculous to us as we were all carrying automatic rifles, body armor and live rounds ( bullets). After all we were getting ready to head to Iraq a war zone for goodness sake. So back out to the packing sheds to pallitize all our gear once again, it did not go as well the second time around. The guys that were in charge of loading pallets were not as good at it as the guys from the time before so this time we ended up with an extra pallet of stuff somehow. We then went back to the concrete pad where they split us up into 3 groups as we were all going to fly on 3 different planes. The leadership wisely put most of themselves on the first flight just in case all the flights did not take off on time, good call. After waiting around in the sun a bit more they started calling off names and once again we loaded the buses to go to the flight line.
As we started toward the flight line we saw the C-17 once again but of course we drove right past it and instead pulled up behind a C-130 which is a much smaller plane. The plane was running when we got there and I started having a serious flashback from my days with the 82ND Airborne. It had been 21 years since I had been on a C-130 and the last time I was in one I was loading up for a jump ( Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane ). As I entered the back of the plane with all my gear I got a whiff of the cargo straps and burning fuel that seriously brought me back to those days, it was weird. There were a lot of us to load and it was obvious from the beginning that several people had never been on a C-130 and did not know how to properly sit or how to buckle in as the loading process seemed to take forever. I was the last person on for my side which proved to be a very bad deal for me. The seating in a C-130 consists of webbed straps on a light aluminum frame which can be fairly comfortable when the plane is not fully loaded but in this case proved to be ungodly horrible. There are four rows of seats, two on each side divided by a web strapping "wall". So basically you pack in like sardines with one of your legs on either side of the legs of the person sitting across from you. At the back of the plane the row ends and then there are another set of seats set back about 12 inches for the aircrew to sit in. I was the last one on my row and literally had only one ass cheek on my row with the other half of me halfway onto the crew seats. This resulted in the uncomfortable fact of having an aluminum bar that stabbed me mid thigh for the entire flight. I honestly believe this is the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my entire life, and looking back on my life that is something to be said. We finally all got seated and they started loading the pallets, not only did they fit about 50 of us on but they crammed two of the pallets in there also, the pallets are about 12 feet by 12 feet so to say it was a little cramped is putting it mildly. Once they shut the rear door the heat really started to kick in, I was literally dripping with sweat within a few minutes, mind you this was a 2 hour flight. Most of us had stopped drinking water well before the flight as the bathroom facilities on a C-130 consist of a metal tube set into the wall about halfway up the rear ramp so that was a definite no go. I completely stopped sweating within 15 minutes of sitting on that plane, not a good thing. So off we went into the glorious sunrise for our trip into Iraq, I couldn't wait as by that time I figured nothing could be worse in the whole world as being on that plane.
The flight was unremarkable except for the fact of looking at my watch every 3 seconds to see if we were there yet. Once we got to the Iraq airfield the plane dropped like a rock and came in for a quick landing. They do not fly in low then land easily there as people will shoot at the plane so they basically dive bomb the runway and come to a screeching stop. Finally the rear doors open up and I get my first glimpse of Iraq.
It turns out Iraq is just as flat,hot and ugly as the rest of the wretched region. Once the pallets got unloaded we were able to get off the plane. This proved to be a little more difficult than loading as every ones legs were totally numb and we all felt crippled but we finally all stumbled out and followed our guide off the runway. We were met in a parking lot by the company of guys that we were replacing there in country. It was a bit of a letdown as we were all wearing our body armor and combat gear and these guys were just wearing their basic uniforms. I most definitely did not feel as if I had just landed in a war zone. Once we all had gotten off the runway they had us drop our gear on some buses and led us to the local chow hall for some much needed lunch. The chow halls here are just as crazy if not more than the ones in Kuwait. I had a delicious lunch of bottled water then headed back to the buses to wait for everyone else to finish eating. I loaded myself onto the bus and promptly fell asleep. Once everyone was back we left the airfield to go to our SHU's which would be our home for the next 9 months.
A SHU is a portable square or rectangle metal building. The square ones are 4 mans and the rectangle ones are 2 mans unless you are an E-6 staff sergeant or above then they are considered singles, rank has its privileges. They are set up in areas called pads and have about 30 in each row and about 6 rows. I have to say it is the best living arrangement I have had since I came back on active duty. I am in a 4 man which I consider to be better than the 2 mans. The 2 mans are usually reserved for the E-5 sergeants. The 4 mans are really just 2 of the 2 mans joined together in the middle. Each SHU has an air conditioner so if you are in a 4 man you have 2 air conditioners. There is a bunk an end table and a wall locker for each occupant. You also have 4 electrical outlets per person although two of mine are occupied by the Internet router and the air conditioner. We also have hard wired Internet which is awesome, the only problem I have with it is that they are charging us 85 dollars a month to use it which I think is a crime personally, I will be writing someone about that one of these days.
Once we all got off the buses we got into a mass formation and they started to issue out the keys for the SHU's.Once you got your key you went to your SHU to make sure the key worked then you were able to grab your gear and load it in. I was so excited to finally be able to unpack my bags for the first time in months, it was awesome. The rest of the day was spent unpacking our gear and exploring the base, our new home for the rest of the year.
As I said earlier we were all split up into three groups, my flight and the one that followed left on time ( the second plane came in 2 hours after us ) but the third plane was delayed and those guys did not land until 0100, talk about a long day. So after a much too lengthy stay in Kuwait and an incredible urge to kill the Air Force we all finally made it to our destination in wonderfull Iraq.
As we started toward the flight line we saw the C-17 once again but of course we drove right past it and instead pulled up behind a C-130 which is a much smaller plane. The plane was running when we got there and I started having a serious flashback from my days with the 82ND Airborne. It had been 21 years since I had been on a C-130 and the last time I was in one I was loading up for a jump ( Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane ). As I entered the back of the plane with all my gear I got a whiff of the cargo straps and burning fuel that seriously brought me back to those days, it was weird. There were a lot of us to load and it was obvious from the beginning that several people had never been on a C-130 and did not know how to properly sit or how to buckle in as the loading process seemed to take forever. I was the last person on for my side which proved to be a very bad deal for me. The seating in a C-130 consists of webbed straps on a light aluminum frame which can be fairly comfortable when the plane is not fully loaded but in this case proved to be ungodly horrible. There are four rows of seats, two on each side divided by a web strapping "wall". So basically you pack in like sardines with one of your legs on either side of the legs of the person sitting across from you. At the back of the plane the row ends and then there are another set of seats set back about 12 inches for the aircrew to sit in. I was the last one on my row and literally had only one ass cheek on my row with the other half of me halfway onto the crew seats. This resulted in the uncomfortable fact of having an aluminum bar that stabbed me mid thigh for the entire flight. I honestly believe this is the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my entire life, and looking back on my life that is something to be said. We finally all got seated and they started loading the pallets, not only did they fit about 50 of us on but they crammed two of the pallets in there also, the pallets are about 12 feet by 12 feet so to say it was a little cramped is putting it mildly. Once they shut the rear door the heat really started to kick in, I was literally dripping with sweat within a few minutes, mind you this was a 2 hour flight. Most of us had stopped drinking water well before the flight as the bathroom facilities on a C-130 consist of a metal tube set into the wall about halfway up the rear ramp so that was a definite no go. I completely stopped sweating within 15 minutes of sitting on that plane, not a good thing. So off we went into the glorious sunrise for our trip into Iraq, I couldn't wait as by that time I figured nothing could be worse in the whole world as being on that plane.
The flight was unremarkable except for the fact of looking at my watch every 3 seconds to see if we were there yet. Once we got to the Iraq airfield the plane dropped like a rock and came in for a quick landing. They do not fly in low then land easily there as people will shoot at the plane so they basically dive bomb the runway and come to a screeching stop. Finally the rear doors open up and I get my first glimpse of Iraq.
It turns out Iraq is just as flat,hot and ugly as the rest of the wretched region. Once the pallets got unloaded we were able to get off the plane. This proved to be a little more difficult than loading as every ones legs were totally numb and we all felt crippled but we finally all stumbled out and followed our guide off the runway. We were met in a parking lot by the company of guys that we were replacing there in country. It was a bit of a letdown as we were all wearing our body armor and combat gear and these guys were just wearing their basic uniforms. I most definitely did not feel as if I had just landed in a war zone. Once we all had gotten off the runway they had us drop our gear on some buses and led us to the local chow hall for some much needed lunch. The chow halls here are just as crazy if not more than the ones in Kuwait. I had a delicious lunch of bottled water then headed back to the buses to wait for everyone else to finish eating. I loaded myself onto the bus and promptly fell asleep. Once everyone was back we left the airfield to go to our SHU's which would be our home for the next 9 months.
A SHU is a portable square or rectangle metal building. The square ones are 4 mans and the rectangle ones are 2 mans unless you are an E-6 staff sergeant or above then they are considered singles, rank has its privileges. They are set up in areas called pads and have about 30 in each row and about 6 rows. I have to say it is the best living arrangement I have had since I came back on active duty. I am in a 4 man which I consider to be better than the 2 mans. The 2 mans are usually reserved for the E-5 sergeants. The 4 mans are really just 2 of the 2 mans joined together in the middle. Each SHU has an air conditioner so if you are in a 4 man you have 2 air conditioners. There is a bunk an end table and a wall locker for each occupant. You also have 4 electrical outlets per person although two of mine are occupied by the Internet router and the air conditioner. We also have hard wired Internet which is awesome, the only problem I have with it is that they are charging us 85 dollars a month to use it which I think is a crime personally, I will be writing someone about that one of these days.
Once we all got off the buses we got into a mass formation and they started to issue out the keys for the SHU's.Once you got your key you went to your SHU to make sure the key worked then you were able to grab your gear and load it in. I was so excited to finally be able to unpack my bags for the first time in months, it was awesome. The rest of the day was spent unpacking our gear and exploring the base, our new home for the rest of the year.
As I said earlier we were all split up into three groups, my flight and the one that followed left on time ( the second plane came in 2 hours after us ) but the third plane was delayed and those guys did not land until 0100, talk about a long day. So after a much too lengthy stay in Kuwait and an incredible urge to kill the Air Force we all finally made it to our destination in wonderfull Iraq.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The not so great escape
I wanted to call this blog entry how I learned to hate the Air force and want to hang them from poles and use them as Piñata’s but it was too long so I stuck with “the not so great escape”. I would never have imagined that it would be so difficult to get to a war zone in time of war. Our escape from Kuwait was so fucked up that I am sure that I will not even be able to come close to conveying the horribleness of it all into words. We had spent a little over 2 weeks in Kuwait and as I have said before we were all ready to get the hell out. Kuwait was really hot and miserable, about 115-120 in the day with the hot winds of death. Plus we were all absolutely tired of all the silly training they had us go through, over half of it had absolutely nothing to do with what we would be doing in Iraq.
We were scheduled to leave Camp Buehring on Thursday the 23rd. I say scheduled because when Thursday rolled around they announced that we were on 24 hour stand down and that we would not be leaving until Friday (crap). The previous two days we pretty much had off, Harbin, Lacriccio and I ( the angry old man trifecta )were so ready to go that we packed two days early. If it had not been so hot outside I believe we would have sat outside for 2 days to wait for the buses to come take us away. Sleeping on a cot and living in a tent with 65 other people will eventually drive you mad, more so when you are old. So the day finally arrives when the buses are scheduled to pick us up and take us to al saleem airfield which is where you go to fly to Iraq or to fly home if you are going home on leave. After baking in the sun for a few hours the buses finally arrived to aid in our escape. Before we could load the buses we had to load our duffel bags and rucksacks into a semi trailer Mind you there were a lot of bags. Each of us had to wear our body armor, rifleman’s kit, rifle and carry our Kevlar’s . We also each had a computer bag and an assault pack. After a short bus ride we arrived at the airfield and unloaded all our bags. At first they lined us up in a large open area where we could bake in the sun some more ( I already have a wicked tan or really bad skin cancer by the way ). After a while they decided to put us up in some not so air conditioned tents, I felt like a dehydrated plant in a greenhouse. By this time we were all questioning if we were actually going to be able to escape the hell of Kuwait. Just when total despair was about to set in they announced that they needed people to go unload the semi truck that had all our duffel bags and rucksacks on it so that we could palletize all the gear for our flight out. I was very excited about this prospect ( not really, they made me go ) and went outside once again into the scorching sun only to realize that it was cooler outside than it was in that damn tent. We made short work of getting our gear unloaded and loaded up and secured onto the aluminum Air Force pallets that they use to transport stuff on military planes then headed back to where the company was waiting. After waiting around again for a few hours they finally had us line back up in formation where they started calling off our names to load the buses that were going to take us to the flight line. We promptly loaded the buses with a great sigh of relief because by this point we were convinced that we would finally be able to escape ( Liiiieeeeeesssss!).
This was a very strange bus ride for me, the area that they had been keeping us was all new and had been added to an old Kuwaiti Army / Air Force base. I had not fully realized where we were until we got on the buses to head to the flight line. Once we got to the old part of the base I realized it was an area that I had driven around back in Desert Storm and that a lot of the old buildings were still there. But the weirdest part for me was seeing the old concrete aircraft bunkers just off the runways. When Iraq invaded Kuwait and settled in for their occupation they had been using that airfield and Army barracks to keep their planes and some troops. When the bombing campaign started in desert Storm that area was one of the first places hit and all those bunkers had been bombed. So rolling out there and seeing all those bombed out bunkers still sitting there after all these years was quite an experience for me. Anyways, they finally drive us out to the flight line where we can see a waiting C-17 military transport plane. The C-17 is a fairly large cargo plane and we were all happy to see it as it would mean there would be plenty of room for all of us and all our gear. So the bus pulls up but the doors don’t open, we sit there for less than a minute and the bus starts back up and starts heading off the flight line. My exact words at this time were NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently no one was listening because we kept driving away. They then took us to a little waiting area where the Air Force people explained that there was a hydraulic problem but that they were going to fix it. So we waited for another hour then got back on the buses and headed back to the flight line. This time we stopped and they actually opened the doors and people started getting up to get off the bus, that is when they closed the doors and started driving away again. But this time they did not take us to the waiting area , they took us all the way back to the hot ass tent area. My spirits were crushed, I was not a happy camper and neither was anyone else.
So back into the tents of despair we go although this time they let us use two tents so I went to the other one and was pleasantly surprised to see leather couches and real air conditioning. By this time it was time for dinner chow so we all headed over to the local chow hall to get some food as most of us had not eaten all day. After chow we all headed back to the tents to be informed that it could be up to 12 hours before we would be able to get another flight, bastards!!. So with that bit of information we all tried to settle in as much as possible for the long wait. A couple hours later they ( the Lazy good for nothing piñata Air force) come back into the tent to say that they are going to move us to Camp Virginia and put us up for the night as we will not be escaping anytime soon, total buzz crusher. But before we can go we have to go outside and un palletize all our gear and load it all back into the wretched semi truck.
So after re-loading all our gear we load the buses and off to camp Virginia we go. Camp Virginia is the base you go to when you are done with your Iraq tour and are getting ready to go back home for good. I think they sent us to that base just to be mean so that we could go and see all the Joes that had already finished their tours and were going home, and here we were not having started our tour yet, dirty rotten bastards!
So we finally arrive at the camp and of course we have to unload the semi truck again, by this time we had moved those godforsaken bags in and out of that damn truck 4 times already. By the way the average weight of one rucksack was around 120 pounds and the duffel bags were not much lighter. They end up putting us in the same types of tents that we stayed in at al saleem, at least these ones had good air conditioning, and proceed to tell us that we will be there for 24 hours at least. Redrum, Redrum, Redrum.
The next day we had nothing to do but wander around and glare at all the bastards we saw that were getting ready to go back home. I did get a chance to eat a Big Mac which for some reason I was really craving as soon as I saw the McDonalds. It was good but not as good as back home. It was at that point that I realized I had not had any fast food for about 2 and ½ months and that I really did not miss it. At least I got to take my picture with a life sized replica of Ronald McDonald that they had sitting on a bench in the middle of the desert, strange world.
So as you can see our escape was not much of an escape at all. My next blog will cover our absolutely horrible plane ride and our glorious introduction to Iraq ( it was not really that glorious).
We were scheduled to leave Camp Buehring on Thursday the 23rd. I say scheduled because when Thursday rolled around they announced that we were on 24 hour stand down and that we would not be leaving until Friday (crap). The previous two days we pretty much had off, Harbin, Lacriccio and I ( the angry old man trifecta )were so ready to go that we packed two days early. If it had not been so hot outside I believe we would have sat outside for 2 days to wait for the buses to come take us away. Sleeping on a cot and living in a tent with 65 other people will eventually drive you mad, more so when you are old. So the day finally arrives when the buses are scheduled to pick us up and take us to al saleem airfield which is where you go to fly to Iraq or to fly home if you are going home on leave. After baking in the sun for a few hours the buses finally arrived to aid in our escape. Before we could load the buses we had to load our duffel bags and rucksacks into a semi trailer Mind you there were a lot of bags. Each of us had to wear our body armor, rifleman’s kit, rifle and carry our Kevlar’s . We also each had a computer bag and an assault pack. After a short bus ride we arrived at the airfield and unloaded all our bags. At first they lined us up in a large open area where we could bake in the sun some more ( I already have a wicked tan or really bad skin cancer by the way ). After a while they decided to put us up in some not so air conditioned tents, I felt like a dehydrated plant in a greenhouse. By this time we were all questioning if we were actually going to be able to escape the hell of Kuwait. Just when total despair was about to set in they announced that they needed people to go unload the semi truck that had all our duffel bags and rucksacks on it so that we could palletize all the gear for our flight out. I was very excited about this prospect ( not really, they made me go ) and went outside once again into the scorching sun only to realize that it was cooler outside than it was in that damn tent. We made short work of getting our gear unloaded and loaded up and secured onto the aluminum Air Force pallets that they use to transport stuff on military planes then headed back to where the company was waiting. After waiting around again for a few hours they finally had us line back up in formation where they started calling off our names to load the buses that were going to take us to the flight line. We promptly loaded the buses with a great sigh of relief because by this point we were convinced that we would finally be able to escape ( Liiiieeeeeesssss!).
This was a very strange bus ride for me, the area that they had been keeping us was all new and had been added to an old Kuwaiti Army / Air Force base. I had not fully realized where we were until we got on the buses to head to the flight line. Once we got to the old part of the base I realized it was an area that I had driven around back in Desert Storm and that a lot of the old buildings were still there. But the weirdest part for me was seeing the old concrete aircraft bunkers just off the runways. When Iraq invaded Kuwait and settled in for their occupation they had been using that airfield and Army barracks to keep their planes and some troops. When the bombing campaign started in desert Storm that area was one of the first places hit and all those bunkers had been bombed. So rolling out there and seeing all those bombed out bunkers still sitting there after all these years was quite an experience for me. Anyways, they finally drive us out to the flight line where we can see a waiting C-17 military transport plane. The C-17 is a fairly large cargo plane and we were all happy to see it as it would mean there would be plenty of room for all of us and all our gear. So the bus pulls up but the doors don’t open, we sit there for less than a minute and the bus starts back up and starts heading off the flight line. My exact words at this time were NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently no one was listening because we kept driving away. They then took us to a little waiting area where the Air Force people explained that there was a hydraulic problem but that they were going to fix it. So we waited for another hour then got back on the buses and headed back to the flight line. This time we stopped and they actually opened the doors and people started getting up to get off the bus, that is when they closed the doors and started driving away again. But this time they did not take us to the waiting area , they took us all the way back to the hot ass tent area. My spirits were crushed, I was not a happy camper and neither was anyone else.
So back into the tents of despair we go although this time they let us use two tents so I went to the other one and was pleasantly surprised to see leather couches and real air conditioning. By this time it was time for dinner chow so we all headed over to the local chow hall to get some food as most of us had not eaten all day. After chow we all headed back to the tents to be informed that it could be up to 12 hours before we would be able to get another flight, bastards!!. So with that bit of information we all tried to settle in as much as possible for the long wait. A couple hours later they ( the Lazy good for nothing piñata Air force) come back into the tent to say that they are going to move us to Camp Virginia and put us up for the night as we will not be escaping anytime soon, total buzz crusher. But before we can go we have to go outside and un palletize all our gear and load it all back into the wretched semi truck.
So after re-loading all our gear we load the buses and off to camp Virginia we go. Camp Virginia is the base you go to when you are done with your Iraq tour and are getting ready to go back home for good. I think they sent us to that base just to be mean so that we could go and see all the Joes that had already finished their tours and were going home, and here we were not having started our tour yet, dirty rotten bastards!
So we finally arrive at the camp and of course we have to unload the semi truck again, by this time we had moved those godforsaken bags in and out of that damn truck 4 times already. By the way the average weight of one rucksack was around 120 pounds and the duffel bags were not much lighter. They end up putting us in the same types of tents that we stayed in at al saleem, at least these ones had good air conditioning, and proceed to tell us that we will be there for 24 hours at least. Redrum, Redrum, Redrum.
The next day we had nothing to do but wander around and glare at all the bastards we saw that were getting ready to go back home. I did get a chance to eat a Big Mac which for some reason I was really craving as soon as I saw the McDonalds. It was good but not as good as back home. It was at that point that I realized I had not had any fast food for about 2 and ½ months and that I really did not miss it. At least I got to take my picture with a life sized replica of Ronald McDonald that they had sitting on a bench in the middle of the desert, strange world.
So as you can see our escape was not much of an escape at all. My next blog will cover our absolutely horrible plane ride and our glorious introduction to Iraq ( it was not really that glorious).
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