Flying out of remote FOB is not always an easy task. Flying out of anywhere is not easy when the the weather is a mixture of rain, hail and snow with a constant overcast sky and a low ceiling. This is what I experienced for the 4 days I spent trying to fly out of the FOB up the road where big army lives. It took being manifested on 7 flights before finally getting out of there.
Being manifested on so many different flights over a 4 day period turns into quite a logistic task. Since my FOB is about 5 miles away from the big army FOB, we try to limit the number of convoys to a minimum. We usually would call the day before, get the flight schedule and then head up to the big army FOB a few hours prior. Then the waiting begins. Sitting in a big clam-shell style tent on a cot, the hour or so wait turns into hours and hours of waiting as flights get pushed back or canceled. Thank goodness I had my PSP and my new Ipod Video that Christine got me for an early V-day present. I was able to load a ton of movies and shows on it, so when I got tired of playing the PSP, I could watch something. While waiting over those several days, I did get through 5 episodes of the Band of Brothers mini-series. Always a good show to watch. I also knocked out a couple of my favorite movies too. A nap here and there were taken, especially since a couple of days had some early wakeups.
The night before the Superbowl ( it played live in Afghanistan at 3:30 in the morning) I had a flight scheduled for 10PM so I went up the big army fob to be there in time for it. Not long after getting there we found out the flight was canceled, but rather than bug the guys on my team to come pick me up and disturb their pre-game rest I just found me a cot and decided to sleep there. The next flight was scheduled for the morning, so there was no sense in going back to my FOB just to turn around and come back at first light. I have slept in a lot worse places than in a warm tent on a cot so it did not bother me any.
The next morning as I awoke with people filing into the tent hoping to also get on the flight, I started asking around about the game to find out the score. Since I was not really a fan of either, but wanted Chicago to win, it was not entirely important that I be in front of a TV anyway. Armed Forces Network (AFN) is what carries the game for us and they do not show the commercials, so it is not like I had that to even look forward to.
Well that flight ended up getting canceled, as we sat out next to the end of the airstrip waiting to go. Luckily we ran into some of the guys from our FOB that happened to be up there and caught a ride back with them. Of course like every time I got back onto our FOB, I hear the same thing “you are still here?†or “another one canceled?†Of course I want to just pull a Bill Engvall and say “no, I am back already, it was a short leave….here’s your signâ€.
Well I eventually got out of there and on my way. I knew once the trip started it would not take long. The Army is good at getting soldiers home when they have to go on emergency leave. I just had to get out of Sharana to start the process. After the flight to Baghram, we landed and all of us on the plane got off to help load the bags into a back of a truck. Once that was complete, we processed into the PAX terminal and I went directly to the outbound flights desk. After talking with them I found out that a flight was leaving for Kuwait soon, and there may still be a chance to get on it. So I went to my task force personnel office and they pushed me through. They had been waiting on me and were starting to wonder where I was. They took my weapons and gear and then took me back to the terminal. They got me on the flight of which I only had to wait about 20 minutes before boarding started. Once I got into Kuwait, they had a escort for me from a team that all they do is handle people going on Emer. leave. I was processed through in less than 30 minutes and told to be back in about 2 hours in civilian clothes and ready to go to Kuwait Int’l Airport. Since I had not eaten all day, my first stop was at the Dining facility to get some chow. From there I went and grabbed a shower, changed clothes and then to the PX to see if there was anything there that I wanted.
As the bus pulled into the airport, I felt like I was back in the states at one of our airports. A very modern facility with advertisements, directions, luggage carts, porters, and even a Harley-Davidson store inside of the airport. Of course there was a Starbucks, how can there not be a Starbucks at every airport in world. The one thing that made me realize it was not an airport in the US was the many men walking around in their man-dresses and red-n-white checkered head-rags. Since Kuwait is such a modern and wealthy nation, there were many men in suits, and just about everyone had cell phones. That part also reminded me of the US, especially with many of them having Bluetooth headsets for their phones. The security was very lack-luster compared to the US and actually reminded me of something close to pre-9/11 standards. That part made me a little nervous since they did not seem to take it as serious here as they do in the US. The flight from here to Amsterdam was a good one. It was a brand-new Airbus 330 aircraft with every seat having their own monitor and a wide choice of movies to watch. The plane was not full, so everyone on the flight had room to stretch out.
Once in Amsterdam, the scenery changed significantly. It was a modern country with all the modern amenities that we enjoy in the western world. Since this is an EU country, they follow many of the same security rules that we do when it comes to flying. Boots and shoes had to come off, liquids had to be in the Ziploc bag, etc. etc. Of course since it is a European country and they are much more liberal on smoking, there is smoking allowed in the airport. Close to 50 people were circled around the outside of the bar/restaurant next to our gate smoking using their ashtrays. Smoking is allowed in this airport only at bars, so even thought it was closed they stood there next to the closed bar and smoked like it was the last cigarette they would ever see.
I was not there long before getting on my flight to Detroit. This was a long one, which allowed me some more time to sleep and catch up on some movies and TV shows. I was able to get up to speed with the current season of 24 since I had it on my new ipod. I watched the first 5 episodes and got my 24 fix back on. I also watched a few movies on the plane which I had wanted to see for a while. This plane was also an Airbus 330, and also was not overly-full so I had space next to me to stretch out. After getting into Detroit I went right to the monitor and saw that there was a flight to Buffalo which was supposed to have already left, but was still there. My scheduled flight to Buffalo was not for a few more hours, so I took off to the gate. Once I got down there and explained my situation and the gate agent made sure she got my on the flight. I called Christine to let her know that I would only be in Detroit for 30 minutes rather than 3 hours. Once we lifted off, it only took 45 minutes to touch down in Buffalo.
From start to finish, from wheels up in Sharana, Afghanistan to wheels down in Buffalo, New York only took 35 hours. I knew they would move me fast, but this was even faster than I expected. A lot of it was luck since I got to Baghram just in time before a flight was about to leave, I got to Kuwait just a couple of hours before the shuttle went to Kuwait airport, and because I got to Detroit to find a delayed flight there with room for me. Luck and the Lord were on my side.
