Sick, High, and Tired

Cannot believe it’s already Sunday! The rumors are true – traveling really passes the time. The shuttle picked me up (duffle bag, backpack, PPE, and all) at 0600 hours on Tuesday morning. We headed to the rotary wing terminal, where I had the privilege of waiting two hours for my flight before the three FOB trip was finally underway.

The helicopter was packed and the seating arrangement didn’t allow for any photos. Thirty minutes, and zero bullets, later we arrived at the first base. The altitude there is 6,500ft, compared to 4,500ft at BAF, which didn’t seem to be much of a change at the time. However, after ten hours of work, five miles of walking, negative six bottles of water, and the onset of a cold, I felt awful. The fact that I skipped dinner and welcomed a blazing hot room to sleep in confirmed that I was sick!

What’s worse is finding out that I had to be up at 0300 hours the next morning to get packed and ready to go. It’d be one thing if the flight was leaving then, but this was just to stand in line and find out if there was even space available for me. What’s more…the guy who was supposed to pick me up wasn’t there at 0330 hours, so I called him. He said he was on the way, then quickly called back and said, no, I said 0430 hours…see you in an hour. So there I am fully clothed and packed when I could’ve slept for another hour. Angry!

Just for the record, I didn’t get a flight out until 1000 hours. The only saving grace was that our “bird” was a Chinook (huge, tandem rotor helicopter) with three gunners. They lowered the back gate during the flight, which offered quite an amazing view. Plus, even though they weren’t needed, having three gunners on board is just plain fantastic. What an improvement on playing with G.I. Joes as kids.

The next two bases were much alike; smaller and at even higher altitudes, over 7,400ft. I could certainly get used to being at one of those. The whole outlook was different than BAF. Everyone knew each other, the atmosphere was very laid back, and it had a distinct personable feeling. The housing, office space, gym, and DFAC were significantly better than what I was used to as well.

The real highlight of my trip, as simple as it may sound was as follows. First, I got to drive! Second, shopping, but not in the girly, let’s go to the mall and just buy stuff because it’s what we do kinda way. The locals have Haji shops set up, much like a flea market. I got two of my favorite items there – a watch and phone. Granted, they aren’t the same as my Omega and Blackberry, but nice additions nonetheless. The watch is a knockoff Breitling, but I must admit it’s a nice timepiece. The phone is touchscreen and has all kinds of media options. It’s nice to have a slight resemblance of home here in the desert!

This afternoon I went with John and some of the guys to a BBQ DFAC. I had some pretty good ribs and amazing potato salad. It was a much welcomed change and might even become a Sunday tradition. If I can’t have pizza, beers, and football, this could be a good fix.

We should be moving into new office buildings, yes, actual buildings, this week. They’re on the other side of the base, which means a daily shuttle ride over. But that’s where the better food, PX (post exchange a.k.a. store that sells all sorts of random supplies), and more people I know are.

I’m still a little behind on my sleep from all the traveling so I’m gonna call it a night. Hope everyone is doing well and hope to talk to you soon!