A Safe, But Somewhat Rocky Start

Well, the hard part of the journey is over.  I have safely arrived at the Manas Transit Center co-located with the international airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.  The weather is absolutely gorgeous with fine views of the snow capped mountains in the distance and it is actually quite hospitable.

My travel did not start off this nicely however.  I was not able to make my originally scheduled flight out of San Diego and had to bump to a later departure.  This was nice since I got to sit with Janelle and have another cup of coffee in the airport, but it created some problems.  You see, I was supposed to fly on commercial airlines to Baltimore and then catch a military chartered aircraft the rest of the way here.  Now that I was bumped I had to re-arrange everything and travel via commercial air the whole way.  This is not too big a deal except that I had to mentally adjust; that and it cost the taxpayers a few thousand bucks for some last minute plane tickets.

So, I eventually left San Diego at 1115 for Chicago, then on to Munich, Germany; Istanbul, Turkey; and finally Bishkek.  The whole process was scheduled to get me here faster than originally planned.  However, here is where the "fun" started....

First, I got to deal with TSA.  I went 0 for 2 attempts through their screening.  My first attempt triggered something and I got the "random" pat down in the private room.  I didn't quite need a cigarette afterwards, but it wasn't pleasant.  Then, my bag got pulled aside and they completely unpacked that and looked through everything.  Turns out I had a tube of toothpaste in there that I forgot about so I guess that one is on me.

Once I finally get on the plane, it had some mechanical problem with the navigation system.  I guess we sort of need that so we had to wait; we finally took off an hour and twenty minutes late.  This was of course very sporty for making my connection in Chicago as I had to do my best O.J. Simpson impression to make it to the gate.  Once there I find that that flight is delayed also, sweet!  So now I am doing the bag drag across the terminal in Munich too.  This time I am on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul.  This flight was delayed as well, but I am not sure why.  Turkish Air says they were voted the best airline in Europe, but I am pretty sure that rating was base on how attractive the flight attendants are and how good the food is and definitely NOT punctuality.  They were late boarding the plane and I gather they had a very different understanding of "sense of urgency" than Americans do.  I didn't mind at this point thought since I knew I had like a four hour layover in Istanbul.

So anyway, four airplanes, two sprints across the terminals, and roughly 30 hours later and here I am.  To top it all off, only one of my checked bags made it all the way with me.  Of course it was the one with all my uniforms in it so I am wearing a green t-shirt with khakis and dress shoes for a day or so until they find my other bag.  They tell me this happens all the time and it will probably show up on the next flight from Istanbul.  Sure hope so.

For now, I will hang out at the base here in Manas.  It is great!  They have a morale center where I can call my family and write this blog.  There is a gym, fitness center, movie theater, even a bar!  But you are only allowed to drink two beers a day, and only if you are on your way home so no beers for this guy.

Take care everyone and I will drop a line once I get settled in Camp Leatherneck!

Hello everyone!  This new blog will be an outlet for me to let all of you know how I am doing and what is happening in my life as I complete my deployment to Afghanistan.

As I write this first post I am putting my last minute things together as I get ready for bed.  Tomorrow morning I have a 06:56 departure on United Airlines for Baltimore.  From there I will be catching a military transport plane bound (eventually) for Manas, Kyrgistan.  That is the primary Air Point Of Entry or APOE (you know how the military loves their acronyms) for the Afghanistan theater.  From Manas I will be waiting for a flight into Camp Leatherneck, the main Marine Corps Base in the country.  I am not sure about how that leg of the trip will go so I will have to let you know.

Now, a couple notes about this blog.  For security reasons I probably will not be able to post any pictures.  I also will not be able to tell you a whole lot about the various operations we will be conducting over there.  Nor will I be able to tell you how the base is arrayed.  What I will be able to share is things like living conditions, food conditions, general day to day routine, whether or not my work is engaging, and such like that.  More to follow.  If you have questions, please feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer what I can within the limits of security.