The Trip...

After a week of being cooped up at Ft Benning we left on Friday and traveled to the Atlanta airport where we were shuffled onto a contract plane for the long flight. There were a couple of things that I noted: The plane we were flying was older than I was, and people in the day these were built must have been much smaller. From Atlanta we flew up to Shannon, Ireland for a refuel stop. I initially thought it was because of the hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently this is a common stop off for these flights. My room mate and I debated whether or not just stopping off in the airport constitutes actually visiting that country. My vote was "no" because you have done nothing to actually experience the place. You have to at least get the stamp in the passport. Eating at a "fish-n-chips" tourist trap and buying a lepperchaun keychain, IMO does not constitute visiting Ireland.

The flight from Ireland to Kuwait was uneventfully boring, long, painful and I swear I have a decubitis ulcer on my thigh from where my tail end was wedged into the seat. I really could not get comfortable, and even Ambien aided sleep was wishful thinking.

Upon arrival at Kuwait we were sequestered in a secure portion of the airport and transported on buses to another staging area. This is where I was first introduced to the oppressive humidity of Kuwait. For the next 4 hours we proceeded to wait, wait, wait, unload bags, and wait. The one coup de gras of the night was that while everyone else was waiting (because that is what you do in the Army) another couple of doctors and I went to the Afghanistan liason tent and were the first ones to sign for the earliest flight out of Kuwait to Afghanistan. This flight quickly filled up and if not, I would be here in the bowels of hell for another 24 hours, waiting.