The Flight Over
Well, the 10th was a long day. After saying good-bye to my family and girlfriend at Camp Lejeune, we rode a bus up to Cherry Point, unloaded our baggage, and weighed in at the terminal. Following about a three-hour wait, we boarded the aircraft. We had the good fortune of being accompanied by about 20 dog handlers and their dogs. Fortunately they were at the back of the aircraft, so the smell didn’t get too bad and the engine noise drowned out the barking.

I have to say, I think I now prefer flying on an Air Force C-17 to flying on a chartered airliner. For one thing, the flight was much faster. Only 10 hours to Ramstein, Germany. Also, once we reached cruising altitude, we were allowed to get up and move around freely. Big deal, you say, I can do that on an airliner. But can you find a nice comfy piece of floor space to curl up and sleep? Between some room to stretch out on the floor and two Actifed that my girlfriend gave me, I was conscious for about two hours of the flight.



We finally landed at Al Asad at 4 AM on the 12th. It took us about two hours to track down the phone number for ANGLICO and get a ride from the terminal over to Camp Ripper. We spent the rest of the day getting somewhat settled in and catching up with guys we hadn’t seen in over two months. Now just to see when we actually push out forward and get to work. More updates soon.  ¶ Friday, May 12, 2006