summary of 24-28 April

This is how the past few days have gone:

Tues, 24 April: finally got called to a flight at about 2:30ish a.m. I slipped and fell while trying to get on a C-130 loaded up with the following items: my steel-framed hiking backpack on my back, computer backpack on my front, flack jacket, kevlar helmet. I stepped up with my left foot and lost my balance...I tried to recover with my right foot and stepped on a roller that they roll pallets over. I banged up my right elbow, but nothing else...good thing I had my helmet on. I arrived at a Marine base at about 4:30 am and was greeted by my trusty team mate Chuck Donaldson, who stayed up all night at the passenger terminal waiting for me. I got the key to my SWA-hut (plywood cabin) and slept for 3 hours before starting my day at 9 o'clock with meetings. Worked all day and into the night..I think we stopped at about midnight-ish.

Wed, 25 April: full day of meetings and worked until 3 a.m. Thursday a.m.; lots of coffee consumed. We took a look at a natural water pond fed by a stream. When you take a look at the clear blue waters and rocks you would think you were in the Mediterranean. You would never know that there is tactical Army equipment and HMMWVs lined up just behind me and helicopters buzzing overhead me as I took this photo.




Thursday, 26 April: more meetings, briefing/presentation, coffee and coke.We invited ourselves to lunch with the Iraqi General, but stumbled into a meeting room with translators and lots of talking instead. We ended up eating at the DFAC. Dinner was Crab legs and some kind of red meat. I don't really eat crab legs so much. As a matter of fact, I think the first time I tried them was this past February when I was in Iraq. They weren't bad...who would've thought I would like the crab legs in the middle of Iraq. Anyway, so this night at dinner the CPT asked if I would get some anyway and just give them to him. Of course I did since he's a nice guy and he's my client and likes crab legs. Well, we sat down and I thought I'd try them again. Not bad when you dip them in butter, although, I guess nothing is really bad if it's dipped in butter. About 15 minutes later he's done with his pile-o-crab and asks if I was going to give him some of what I had gotten. OOps! I had eaten about half of them already. I gave him the rest, he finished them and commented how he could eat more. Since I'm a contractor and a girl in a sea of guys, we decided our tactic for his guilt-free second/third serving would be for me to go back up to the serving line and get another plate full. It was not a problem and my client was gracious.....talk about good customer service! Here's a picture of the empty shells on the plate behind the cans.




Friday, 27 April: more meetings, another briefing/presentation, coffee and coke and coffee again. We caught a CH-53 (Marine helo) to Camp F; arrived there at about midnight just in time for midnight chow at the DFAC. We had outstanding accommodations in a hard-walled building that may have been an old Iranian Army dormitory. The building had a really nice courtyard out front with a fountain and running water that reminded us of a miniature golf course...seriously. The CPT and Chuck had about 6 bunkbeds in a room with real mattresses, pillows and sheets. Then we went down the hall to check out my room. The hallway was lined with rooms on the left and windows on the right covered by royal blue curtains. When you pulled back the curtains to reveal the view through the windows, however all you see is sandbags so no light gets in...war zone decor. (see picture of hallway and then of sandbag windows)




We got to my room, the last one on the left, and there was a sign on it that said Ms. Erika McGinley. I felt so important. I told the Marine Sgt who was showing us around that I didn't know who had called and said someone important was coming, but I really appreciated it. We opened it and as soon as I turned the light out CPT and Chuck said I was not going to live this down. The room was fairly large with a tiled floor, real wood furniture and a rug that seemed to be about 14 x 20 feet large. To the right there were 2 sitting chairs with a small table inbetween that held a porcelain, gold-rimmed coffee set. To the left was a desk with two phones. You wouldn't think phones would be a big luxury, but communications are pretty spotty over here so if you have direct access to one without having to sign up for one and wait in line to use it then it's a pretty big deal. Here's the cherry on top: one of the phones had a speed dial menu with the #2 speed dial as the Major General...the Garrison Commander for the Camp. I chuckled and CPT and Chuck joked about calling him and asking for room service. The room also had it's own bathroom, which was austere, but then again, it wasn't a port-a-pottie or a shower trailer that I had to walk to. (Here's a pic of my room and my camo flack jacket and big hiking backpack leaning up on the right.) From then on, CPT and Chuck said they were going to call me Princess as long as we were at this base. After a good night of sleep on a real mattress, the next morning I noticed the following "edit" to the sign on my door courtesy of the CPT.

Saturday, 28 April: we had another brief at Camp F and encountered the smallest Green Beans coffee stand in Iraq so far. Check it out: Chuck is in khakis at the counter putting sugar in our coffee. Notice the flooding and mud mitigating pallets for standing in line. I bet this coffee stand makes a lot of money at $3 per latte.

Monday, 23 April 2007

Packed up stuff, met the Deputy Commanding Officer (DCO) and a couple of others for coffee at Green Beans.
Gathered up my stuff, said a couple more goodbyes and headed to passenger terminal at 11 am to check into the flight to Balad.
I would be traveling with the POC from my base, LTC who was finally on his way home after an 18 month tour. I really like LTC , a straight-shooter from Tennessee. He’s straight forward, tells it like he sees it, very practical and doesn’t seem to be impressed too easily. Hopefully he’ll let me know next time he’s in Atlanta so I can repay his hospitality with a nice seafood dinner at Pappadeux (apparently he’s a big fan of that place). He and his two NCO’s were on the same C-130 flight with me and it was nice to have company. When we arrived at the next base I found out I had about 8 hours to kill with no where to go and no idea where anything was. LTC had me accompany them as he settled into his transient lodging and said hi to a couple of his Engineer Brigade colleagues. When we were in the Engineer Brigade building, apparently there was a 3-star Army General there at the same time. It would have been neat to see him or even shake his hand...I guess it’s kind of like a celebrity siting or something. We walked outside and saw his two SUVs with the 3 star emblem in the tinted front windshield. Pretty neat.
LTC and I went to dinner and I had some kind of Indian vegetable curry. LTC had fried fish, mac and cheese, peas and pecan pie. There’s always an interesting variety of foods to choose from. He dropped me off and I said my grateful thank you for helping pass at least 3 hours of my time with company. At that point my night turned into a struggle to snooze sitting up and staying awake until 2 am when we headed out to the bird. It is not fun to sit in a holding tent.

"John" the translator

Sunday, 22 April 2007, P.M. Barbecue # 1. Earlier in the day, I received an email from a strange email address. I recognized it once I read the message in broken English. If you read my blog from February, you know that my team and I spent some time with the Military Transition Team (MiTT). The MiTT employs local Iraqi translators in their missions. My team and a couple of the MiTT team military members and translators traded email addresses back then. One of the email trades was with a young 21 year-old translator, “John”. Back to the email I got: the gist of the email I received was that a MiTT translator saw me in the Dining Facility and told John. John was asking if I was, indeed at this base. I replied that I was and he countered with an invitation to a barbecue that they were having. Of course, I would try to go.

I showed up and was greeted with smiles and a couple of familiar faces. It's good to see familiar faces when you're traveling by yourself in Iraq. They had a primitive looking grill that looked like it was made of about a 12-inch diameter cut in half and then welded to 2 metal tripods. The pipe was then filled with charcoal and lit...there was no grill rack, the lamb kabobs were put directly on the coals. I don't usually have much of a taste for lamb, but this lamb was pretty good; apparently it was from a local village "outside the wire." The had about 10 lbs of local flat bread wrapped up in a black plastic bag that you would use to wrap up the meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions in. It was really quite delicious. John gave me a local canned beverage which was like orange juice with lots of pulp; also very good. A few more guests arrived and we ate until it got dark with rap playing in the background. After the eating it was time to make chai tea. They drink a heck of a lot of chai tea in Iraq. John brought out a small metal teapot filled with loose tea leaves and put it directly on the coals. It seemed like forever, but finally it was ready. A middle-aged Iraqi translator was answering many of my questions about the proper way to brew the Iraqi tea; the proper color, and the amount of sugar to add to it. He prepared a few styrofoam cups full and it was sooo sweet and also soo good.
John gave me a bag of the tea and some other kind of tea pods to take with me. I thought it was very sweet that he was so eager to share one of his native foods. I also appreciated that he gave me some from his supply knowing that he is not able to buy it very often.

John is a sweet kid and, although I barely know him, when you meet people over here there is not much time to be anything but genuine and honest, so you feel like you've known people longer than you actually have. I worry about him working with the MiTT team and the impact to his family. If the wrong people were to find out who he worked with, it could mean very bad things for his family. He told me that he has almost completed the visa process to get to the U.S. for a little bit to spend time with a Major from the previous MiTT team. In the near future he wants to join the U.S. Army an become a linguist so he can become a U.S. citizen. He said that that was his dream, to be a U.S. citizen. It's crazy to think of all the people that are born with seemingly nothing EXCEPT their U.S. citizenship and how much that is worth to so many people. So many Americans don't realize its value and here this young Iraqi was putting his life in danger every day so he may eventually gain that which so many people don't think about.

So, John will be in my thoughts when I think about Iraq. I hope he will reach his dream and I hope to get an email from him one day telling me about it. I took a couple of pictures, but i can't post them because it could potentially harm his safety...think about that.

weekend, 21-22 april

Saturday 21 April. Since I didn’t get into bed until 2 am or so, I woke up a bit late on Saturday. I met with my base contact, then met with a couple of other folks and then headed over to the base engineer building to do some work. The day was pretty uneventful. I did work, bought a sweatshirt and hoped that my team would make it in later than evening so I could catch up with them for the briefing the next day. We made plans to meet each other at the building since they would come in late and my lodging was across the base.
Sunday 22 April. When I went to the engineer building I didn’t see evidence that my team had arrived. I checked transient lodging and they hadn’t checked in. Darn it! I guess they got bumped from the flight. This meant I would be flying solo all day and through all conversations. No worries, the folks at this base are some of the best Base staff I have ever encountered hands down. I got coffee at Green Beans and sat a little bit enjoying the pure sun. The weather at the base both on Saturday and Sunday was gorgeous. The sun is pure in the cloudless sky, but it’s not so intense that it cooks you. The temperature was probably high 70s or low 80s, just like Spring in Atlanta, but a lot drier and with a lot more dust in the air. Later on, I worked on my brief, skipped lunch, downed a Powerbar Harvest granola bar, and went to the brief in the Brigade HQ conference room. The room was pretty nice and had big overstuffed leather-ish chairs. It was a fairly informal brief that turned into somewhat of a discussion, which was nice. Actually, I don’t know if it is officially a discussion if I’m the only mostly listening and asking some questions, while everyone else does most of the talking. At one point I thought to myself, “Geesh, Erika, look at you. You’re in a room with 7 Army guys (3 Majors, 3 Lietenant Colonels) and one U.S. Corps of Engineers civilian talking about big picture stuff in Iraq. Crazy.” Then I thought to myself, “This is crazy, but you are crazy...look at all the things you volunteer for and the situations you end up in.” It kind of made me giggle and chuckle inside, and I don’t know if it was nervous giggle or an I’m-glad-I-don’t-take-myself-too-seriously-chuckle.
One of the neatest tidbits from the meeting is the discussion that came up about bases getting stuff. This wasn’t specifically bases in Iraq or this base, but general discussion that it seems easier for a base to get stuff if there is a General Officer there. I think I agree; a General just innately provides a higher amount of visibility. A LTC suggested that they should make up a General for this base.... me! They would paint a door that said General McGinley and put a sign outside the building. That really tickled me and I don’t know exactly why. My mom has a saying where she says she (and therefore I, since I’m her daughter) have a General’s attitude and taste, but with a Private’s amount of influence. We think big and want big, but sometimes this is bigger than reality. The allusion to General McGinley made me think of this and also made me think that finally someone had recognized my potential! I’m kidding, of course.
Two hours later, we concluded the conversation and, since it was Sunday, most folks took it easy for a couple of hours and went back to their CHUs. I went back to mine as well and dropped off my stuff with a sense of relief that I had some time to unwind a bit before my next required travel.

Friday, April 20

Friday 20 April 2007. My team and I were still in up North after having tried to catch a flight on Thursday, but having it cancelled to weather (wind and sand storms). We showed up at the passenger terminal at about 1700 (5pm), our show time wasn’t until 2000. We were the first ones there so we set up on the front row of the dozen or so rows of chairs. This was right in front of the TV. Lauren, Chuck and I were sitting right behind each other on 3 separate rows; strategically spaced among the outlets. My Army escort (CPT) sat with me in the front row along with the JAG Major we ran into that was on his way to our next base. CPT and I knew the JAG officer from our last visit in February. Small world.
In any case, 2030 came after having spanned an episode of Emeril, boxing, and 2 movies (Courage Under Fire, and Independence Day). I was working about 80% of the time, but looked up at the tv during the intense scenes....in Courage Under Fire, not in Emeril...although, sometimes he is pretty captivating. The tent was packed and all that remained was standing room only. We went up to the front desk waiting for them to call space available (Space-A) openings. This means that if there is space on a flight after all the reservations have been confirmed, they call those folks who signed up for the flight on a first come, first serve basis. Because the flight had about 5 stops, they only had space –A for 2 people to the next base. So, since my team and the Major were the first on the list, we had to figure out if 2 of us would go or if my team and I would stay back. The Major and I ended up taking the 2 slots, because ultimately, I had to give the brief to the base decision-makers.
It was all pretty rushed because 10 minutes later I was suited up in my flack jacket and helmet and lugging my steel-frame hiking backpack and computer bag onto a CH-47. For those of you who don’t know, this is a helicopter called a Chinook that has two sets of rotar blades. You see this kind of chopper in a lot of movies about Vietnam. I was pretty excited since this would be my first time on one of these things. They’re kind of strange looking so I was curious how they flew. We got on and there are seats (kind of like sitting on a cot) along both sides. There’s about 3-4 feet in between where they put cargo and where you put your bags. There are small porthole windows, though the netting from the back of the seats kind of ruins any potential view. The craziest thing was that the back of the helicopter is pretty much open. There is a flap that serves as an on ramp when you step on the chopper, but when it comes up it doesn’t completely close the back of the aircraft. So when you’re sitting in it you can see out of the back. There is a person, I don’t know the exact title other than gutsy, that stands or sits at the back with a gun. He’s strapped in with a cable or harness or something. The ride was fine. It was not as graceful as a Blackhawk that kind of floats in the air and obviously maneuvers easily, but the Chinook was steady and confident. I arrived at the base and got lodging in a dry CHU (showers and toilets in separate trailers that you walk to).

Creature Comforts...in Fallujah

Michael here...

Erika really has had no connectivity to post at all on this trip, so I am going to keep updating some of the less mushy parts of our conversation up here.

She has successfully arrived back at VBC (Victory Base Camp) earlier today, but she spent the past few days in Fallujah, where, much to her surprise, she became the VIP on post. I know I am not surprised by this, but she certainly was. She was given the VIP room on the post, which included such long forgotten amenities as 1) a room to herself, 2) a real bed, and even 3) real sheets and pillows. Being Erika she claimed not to need such high class treatment, but the base insisted. She said that if the SecDef were to visit this post, this would be the room that he would stay in. She was very flattered. Also in this room were a variety of phones, including a standard DSN phone, some other unnamed phones, and one that she was told was a direct line to a three star. The funny part of this is that every guy I told this part of the story to, including when I first heard it, had the same first reaction, which was, "you should totally pick up that phone and try to order room service!" For some reason, she didn't find that as funny as I did.

At this point, she had another experience here that was special. Getting off the Marine helicopter that transported her on post, she encountered a Marine K-9 unit. Anyone that knows Erika, knows how she feels about dogs, and being able to pet a German Shepherd meant so much.

For example, when I first met her, she made it very clear up front that even though I got to make out with her, her German Shepherd was her real prince and protector.

Ironically, the Marine whose dog she got to pet went to the rival high school here in Marietta. What a small world! Anyway, it was a brief reminder of her home life, which came at a time when she really needed it.

Unfortunately, Erika may have to go to another base to help out, which would only postpone her current work and make it that much longer before she comes back. No rest for the weary right? (just when you think she's over halfway there, the finish line keeps getting pushed back.)

This reminds me of the stories I've heard of Ranger school and the "run of unspecified distance." This is a mental (and physical) toughness training exercise, where you start running without being told how far you are going. It could be one mile, two miles, ten miles, who knows. The point is you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It may not sound that tough, but go out and try to start running and keep running until someone calls you and tells you to stop. See what starts going through your mind around mile 3 or 4 and see how badly you want to quit. It takes a very special, well trained, and highly disciplined person to just keep going.

On a different note, I was going through some old pictures the other day and found this one. The background to the picture is that Erika and I were travelling through Texas circa 2003 and stopped at Dyess Air Force Base just outside of Abilene, Texas for an air show. (Dyess is the home of the B-1B Lancer). This was long before Erika started her current job, but it is a good forshadowing of the next several years of her life. The quality isn't that great because I don't have a scanner, so I took a digital picture of the picture and uploaded it, but anyway, I thought it was pretty fitting, so here it is:

Michael posting for Erika

So Erika has had very little to no connectivity for the past while. I spoke to her a few times yesterday and the day before because she finally had access to an MWR phone. Unfortunately, these things are set with 15 minute time limits for soldiers to call home with, and this one kept cutting off at 5 minutes, so each call back we kept talking faster and faster.

Anyway, she has been SO busy and running around SO much that she sounded more tired than I have ever heard her before. In typical Erika fashion though, she was staying up late and working hard and still wasn't complaining about anything. I think she is invincible. One time in college, we had so much work to do that we were awake for four straight days without sleep. It was her final design project in Architecture school, our last semester, we had a combined total of 40 credit hours and all of our exams were loaded up together, plus it was one week before our wedding and graduation, so the amount of stuff that had to be done was just way more than either of us could possibly get done in the time we had, but she stuck with it and inspired me to push myself farther than I thought I could go, and we kept plugging away until we got it all done (and everything went perfectly too by the way).

Anyway, she wanted everyone to know that although she is tired, she is hanging in there and really appreciating everyone's support. There is SO much work to be done there, and with the fast pace of work in Iraq, needs come up unexpectedly so sometimes there just never seems to be enough resources. I worry about that and the stress that it puts on the people trying to do the work.

Without our full support and the right resources, they will never be able to complete their mission, and denying them the right tools to do the job is demoralizing and frankly unjust. Enough of my politics though.

There is a chance that she may be able to come home early in order to re-group before going back. If that works, she may be home as early as May 7 or 8 but would have to turn around and go back in about two weeks. We'll see, as her schedule is completely out of her control.

I was reading a quote in a book last night from Tommy Franks to the leader of Bahrain in the lead up to the Iraq war that seemed quite fitting for Erika. It went something like this, "I go where I'm told to go, but no matter what, I win where I go."

That about sums up Erika and her mission right now.

M

P.S. Anyone that wants to come by and visit or take me out to dinner is welcome anytime! :)

blackwater adventure

Thursday

we started off the day signing up for a helicopter flight to our next base and then went on to take a tour of something i had never toured before. for those of you who don't know where the solid waste you personally produce goes, i can tell you now. we went and toured the graywater and blackwater ponds. those are polite and official terms for the "holding ponds." oh my goodness. i have a pretty rock hard stomach and high tolerance for a lot of things...a lot. when my team member, Lauren the wastewater engineer, got out of the truck at the edge of the ponds of course I hopped right out only to be greeted by a wall of stink so strong that my body's survival instinct kicked in and i proceeded to dry heave. then i put my head up and since i have to breathe to survive i breathed again...yet again i began to dry heave and then my eyes started to water. it was truly an uncontrollable reaction. now, this wasn't as dramatic as it may sound. Lauren and the tour operator were already at the edge of the pond and i was at the side of the truck and this was pretty low key looking at; the heaving convulsions emanating from my belly were not low-key at all. so, i put my head up gaining my composure again because i pride myself on not being delicate or squeamish. THen i experienced more watering from the eyes, but at least my head was up and i was done convulsing. i proceeded to walk up to the edge of the pond the whole time using whatever ab muscles I had to contain any heaving. i shook it off and i could handle the smell now. just at that point i could look over the edge of the pond and even though the stink was survivable, the visual of the...lets call it "solids" floating affected the self-control I had managed to wring out. alas, i didn't flinch too badly and i maintained composure for the next 30 minute tour. did i mention my other team member, chuck, and my Army escort chickened out and stayed in the car? it made me proud to out-toughen them in this competition, however, this also meant that they were the audience to my (apparently comical) initial reaction. i am attaching a picture of me at the conclusion of the tour with Lauren on my left and the tour guide on the far left. i could have called this picture many things. maybe i'll have a contest accepting proposals for titles; it could be fun. for now, i'm calling this picture either "my sense of smell is scarred forever" OR "I survived Blackwater Ponds, Iraq."

caffeine in arizona?

well, after my last entry at least my bday got a bit better. we went back to our lodging (more about the lodging later) and we all were getting ready to turn in for the night, i walked out of the bathroom and my 2 team members and the CPT were in one of the rooms together. after having discussed male practical jokes about passing gas earlier in the day, i thought for sure i was being ambushed. i walked out and asked why everyone was in there, as i hovered outside the doorway. then the three of them began singing happy birthday to me! then they handed me a plastic bag with a funny Godzilla card, 3 chocolate bars and a Latina magazine! If I hadn't been dehydrated I probably would have shed a tear. I gave them all hugs and thanked them. they were so sneaky earlier in the afternoon when we went to the PX...I usually catch on to stuff like that, but they completely surprised me. they were so sweet. they realized i was feeling pretty crummy and i was in transit away from home and i was in iraq. it really made at least the end of the day better for me.
unfortunately, i still woke up on WED with the bug so that kind of stunk. V8 and yogurt for breakfast: the no coffee thing would normally have been tough, but over here you kind of function with adrenaline and with constant jet lag. given that, you don't feel the caffeine highs and lows so much. our briefing to the COL went fine. it was short and sweet and we got some more data and met with some other folks. we stopped for coffee (my first cup in about 4 days) and talked a bit on a picnic table in the courtyard in front of the PX. it was good team building. as a result of the coffee, we stayed up past midnight working and going over notes and comments from the day. my team, chuck donaldson (environmental planner) and lauren fahnestock (water/wastewater engineer), are really great. they are very smart, professional and fun. I'm glad they're traveling with me. (you'll probably see them in some pics later.) i stayed up until after 2 am....the caffeine hit me hard. wednesday we went into the air traffic control tower and got a low-flying bird's eye view of the airfield and the base. We also had a bunch of sand storms all day. I don't have to tell you how many places sand can get in to when it's blowing constantly with high wind for hours on end.
the place they put us in this time is really cool. last time we were in CHUs or containerized housing units, this time we are in a refurbished/renvated hardstand building. this just means it's an old Iraqi facility that's been renovated. first of all, the buildings were old iraqi air force officer family housing units, which is neat, but kind of weird to be living somewhere where a pilot may have lived who engaged in fighter dog-fights with the U.S. air force. second, if you saw these houses you would think you were in arizona. they are stucco and painted in yellows and light peach colors. they have an enclosed front courtyard that probably used to be for fruit gardens and a rooftop patio. they are actually pretty nice and i can imagine they were really nice back in their hey-day. now, they've been renovated to look good with fresh paint and finishes and they are furnished to accommodate 20 people. we don't have 20 in ours, just the 4 of us, but each of us has our own room. we have one toilet room with sink and a bathroom only with a shower and 2 sinks. it's been okay for us, but i can't imagine sharing one toilet and 1 shower with 20 people. then again, i guess it's better than a port-a-john and no showers....that always puts things in perspective.

arrival in Iraq...oh, and it's my birthday today

Sunday: arrived in kuwait pm, go to the base on Monday a.m.
monday: caught a stomach bug or something and was pretty miserable all afternoon, caught a flight to iraq in the evening, arrived at our base just before midnight, waited 2 hrs for our bags
Tuesday: didn't have a ride so just stayed in transient tents overnight; woke up at 3:45 shivering and with awful stomach cramps...thought it was appendicitis, fell back asleep 2 hrs later..all of us slept until 11, got a car, went to our lodging (refurbished iraqi officer house), showered, had lunch (none for me..still felt lousy), toured around base and met with the client...oh, it's my birthday today. not the greatest i've ever had. had an ice cream sunday with dinner. at least i feel better now.

Editorial note from Michael: Erika wasn't able to get this posted on Tuesday, so I am putting it up here now.

Iraq, Take Two

As you may already know, I'm off to another adventure in Iraq. I'll be gone for another 5 weeks with the potential to be extended a bit longer....won't know until a few weeks from now. So, just when I'm getting ready to go home I'm sure I'll end up extending. I'm not complaining, it's far better to be extended by a couple of weeks than by 3 months like is happening for active duty Army over here. Poor things, they came over here for 12 months and just found out it's being extended for 15. I was talking to a young private on my flight from dulles (wash d.c) to kuwait and he just found out he was going to be going home in october instead of august...3 more months to wait until he would be able to live with his newborn son.

we arrived at kuwait city internationl airport at about 5 in the afternoon....it's 11:51 pm now. we've been warming the comfy seats at the starbucks for a while now. they only have shuttles to the air base every 4 hours so if you don't make one then you have a few lattes to get through until you can catch the next shuttle. 2 of my team members went on to the base at 10:30 and the 3 of us are still waiting for another shuttle. so, it's a good primer for the rest of the trip: learning patience and being flexible is key to sanity.