my "hard" work did not go unnoticed...

... or perhaps (and more likely) my time was just up and I was the 224th (out of 224?) to be selected to the next rank of Lieutenant Commander, the equivalent of Major for those of you not up to speed on the Navy rank system. I will not put this rank on and more importantly get paid for it until sometime next year. So I think I will stay in the reserves a little longer, the added income will not hurt as I get ready to buy a home. As far as running the risk of getting sent back to this beautiful country that is Afghanistan, well that should not happen for a period of 5 years once I return in November. And besides, since Obama will become the next president (and one could only hope return some prestige to the position?) the United States of America will be pulling out of Iraq in 2010 (also the will of the Iraqis) and concentrate on Afghanistan (as it should have been all along), so there should not be any further need for me to be bored and waste my time here! But the money I have been able to save will be very handy, thank you GW for that!

return from r&r

After 6 days of travel and living in tents I am now back in Herat, the whole journey went something like this:
- I left Annapolis last Tuesday and flew from Baltimore (BWI) to Atlanta where I arrived just before lunch
- I and 349 other service members left Atlanta around 8 pm for Leipzig, Germany to refuel and change out crews; flight lasted a little over 8 hours
- On Wednesday and after a one hour layover myself and the same other 349 service members left Leipzig for the cool climate of Kuwait, a 6 hour flight
- That evening we were bussed to a military camp in the north of Kuwait, about an hour bus ride, where we spent the night and waited for our next trip.
- That next trip happened on Thursday late afternoon when myself and 100 or so other people boarded a C-17 for Bagram.
- We arrived in Bagram a little before 11 pm after a four hour flight and forwarding our watches 1.5 hours (don't forget the .5 hour!)
- Because I could only find out at 3 am the following morning if there was a flight from Bagram to Herat I ended up not sleeping much that night, and there was no flight.
- I tried to sleep during the day on friday but the tents get quite hot and the beds were far from comfortable, and that night I went back to the terminal at 3 am to see if I could get on the mail flight to Herat but there was too much mail and nobody would be allowed on that flight.
- In order to avoid spending another day in Bagram and to better our chances to get to Herat I and a handful of others decided to fly to Kabul International Airport and try our luck from there, a whopping 10 min flight!
- As luck would have it there was a flight to Herat from KIA on Saturday but it was reserved for Italians only, and for us to get on it we would have had to contact the US embassy in Rome. No thank you!
- And finally on Sunday we got on the Italian C-130 that flies regularly between KIA and Herat, and we arrived back at Camp Stone, my "home" for the next four months, around dinner time.

Here are some pictures from the Atlanta airport, we were paraded through the terminal to the applause of all the bystanders wishing us well, it was kind of gay actually. But it wasn't as bad as the USO personnel welcoming us home when they saw us heading to the baggage claim to get our luggage. They got a lot quieter when they found out we were actually heading back!

back in kuwait!!!

So here I am on my way back to Herat for four more months. The journey so far has had me leaving Baltimore International Airport at 0925 on Tuesday (yesterday) for Atlanta, waiting at the Atlanta airport until mid-afternoon when we were paraded through the airport with most bystanders clapping for us to check in for our charter flight to Kuwait, leaving Atlanta an hour late in a jam-packed plane (maybe 1 or 2 free seats at most) for the 8 hour flight to Leipzig, Germany to refuel and change crews, then after an hour wait we took off for the 6 hour flight to Kuwait where we arrived in the early evening hours so the temperature was actually bearable. We then went on a one hour bus ride to a base in the northern part of the country, and this bus ride actually felt longer than the flights!
It looks as if I will only have to spend a night here, we should be leaving for Bagram in shortly after lunch on Thursday. Then once in Bagram I will have to find a flight to Herat where I hope to be back by Friday. As far as going back to work, do I really need to?

going back... reluctantly

I am heading back shortly for four more months of "fun" in the sun, going to Atlanta first then on to Kuwait via Germany then back to Afghanistan. It should take me a few days, depending on how quickly I get a flight from Bagram to Herat, and then I will pretty much just wait for the next four months to go by! I might get a four day pass to go to a base in Qatar but otherwise I will not get anymore "days off". But I will be able to go through the few pictures I took during my two weeks back in civilization and will share those once I am done. These two weeks were good but made me realize what I miss by being over there, but I will be able to buy me a home when I return, really the only benefit of this whole ordeal.

Going on R&R...

Well, my days of freedom are sadly coming to an end, I must have somehow violated my parole and am being sent back to finish my sentence in my "concentration" camp in western Afghanistan. But I have a feeling my motivation to do anything worthwhile will be very low and I will essentially just be waiting to return for good, and save a little more money while so doing. This past year, most of 2008, will have been a waste for the most part, I will have very little to take away from it. Sure I have experienced some interesting things, seen some interesting things, and done some interesting things, but I could have done without most of it. I will admit that the money I have been able to save will help me in buying a home sooner than I expected, but will it really have been worth it? I don't think so. Besides it's not like they really need me to do what I do over there, whatever that might be, they just need a military officer! That is a comforting thought, to know that you are there just as a warm body!
Anyway, here are some pictures from my journey back to civilization...

leaving Herat

shortly after taking off from Herat

what must have been a raging river a few (hundred?) years ago

afghan landscape

flying over Afghanistan
shortly approaching Bagram

before landing in Bagram (can you spot the 2 helicopters?)

tent city, some base in Kuwait

leaving Leipzig

the sun is rising as we leave Leipzig, Germany following a crew change and more fuel

Atlanta in the distance

Washington, DC in the distance

all the pictures