How to Get to Afghanistan Without Really Even Trying

So I trained at Bragg from 18 July - 8 October. After a too short leave period which I was able to spend in Boise (Lisa and the boys happened to be over there too) I returned to Bragg and began the adventure of getting to a war zone. On 16 July at 1030 those of us that were part of the ADVON (basically an advance party) for the 12 PRTs deploying (three from each team) boarded a charter bus and drove from Fayettevile, NC to the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. A drive that took 6 or 7 hours. After checking luggage, eating dinner, and waiting a while for the flight to board we took off around midnight on the morning of the 17th. I sat on the plane next to a little boy who was about three or four and reminded me a lot of Coryn. As I was putting my bag in the overhead bin he looked up at me and said, "You know what? I think I'm going to let you sit next to me." I thanked him for that and I chatted for a bit with him and his mother who was sitting on his other side. His dad had recently returned from Afghanistan and they were returning to Germany where he is stationed. I asked the kid what his name is and he told me, "Bruce Wayne, you know, the super hero." To which I responded, "You mean the billionaire owner of Wayne Industries? hum, I thought you would have been older." His name was actually Joseph but his mom told me he had been pretending to be Bruce Wayne for the last couple of day.

Well, we flew from BWI to Rammstein, Germany and after a 90 layover to refuel and change aircrew we continued on to Insurlik, Turkey where we had another 90 layover and on to Manas, Krygyzstan. Now there's someplace I NEVER though I would be able to say I had visited. For some reason, the military... I'm not sure if it was Army or Air Force but I can only assume it was the Army (I now make it a point to slander the Army at least once a day... it a good venting method) had only booked us through Manas and we then had to make further arrangement to actually get a flight to Afghanistan. Well, Manas was a pretty nice place, which is good because we were stuck there for about four days. There was good food, an LDS sacrament service on Sunday (there were three of us in attendance), and a few shops so I was able to send a few souvenirs home.

This is a shop that was set up to look like a Yurt... I bought a Kyrgyzstan shot glass there.

6495 miles from BWI to Manas.

Yes, I'm well aware I'm about to enter a war zone... thanks for the reminder, especially while you're warm and cozy in the Club Med of "deployments"

The cool little chapel at Manas

I'm not sure this is the best way to start a licence plate in a former Soviet Republic, but maybe it's just me.

We Finally got a flight on a C-17 from Manas to Bagram and after a few days of briefs and trying to get a flight to FOB Gardez I arrived at the forward operating base I will be calling home for the next 9 months. It took about 10 or so days total to get here, but I have arrived and I am ready to get on with it. I'll post a little more about Gardez soon, assuming the Internet doesn't go down... it happens around here.

Here's me on the C-17...

...and here is everyone else (Lisa, that's Jane leaning forward on the right)