Overall, the trip went as planned with minimal delays. 3-4 hours in Zurich, and about 7 hours in Istanbul. I was able to get a few hours sleep in a corner of the Istanbul airport before my flight to Bishkek. Taking off from Istanbul we headed north and climbed up over the Bosphorus just as the sun was going down to the west behind the Grand Mosque. Amazingly beautiful. Interestingly, I got to finally see "The Blind Side" on the flight to Bishkek. It was even in English.
We landed at Manas Airport around 3:30 am local. It was quite a site to see all the trappings of Kyrgyzstan's Soviet dominated recent past. Luckily they were actually expecting me and there was a local civilian there ready to usher me through the diplomatic exempt lane at customs. I grabbed my bags and headed from the civilian terminal over to our US Air Base.
They dropped me at the PERSCO tent (personnel company) that led me around to supply for my chem gear, kevlar helmet, and body armor. Once done I ate a quick breakfast and headed over see about a flight to Bagram or Kabul. They told me it was a 10 day wait to get to Kabul, and probably four days wait for Bagram. I happened to see the daily manifest behind the Airman working the counter and noticed a C-17 headed to Kabul that afternoon. I asked about it and he said it was full of a Maine Army National Guard security company. I asked what he meant by "full". He said 149 of the 154 seats were assigned, with 5 pallets of bags and gear. I told I traveled light and finally talked him into one of the last few seats. I was also able to finagle the remaining seats for some civilian air traffic controllers headed over for a year to work Afghan ATC and train as many folks as they could. It's good to be AF and be able to speak the Airman's language...
We landed at Manas Airport around 3:30 am local. It was quite a site to see all the trappings of Kyrgyzstan's Soviet dominated recent past. Luckily they were actually expecting me and there was a local civilian there ready to usher me through the diplomatic exempt lane at customs. I grabbed my bags and headed from the civilian terminal over to our US Air Base.
They dropped me at the PERSCO tent (personnel company) that led me around to supply for my chem gear, kevlar helmet, and body armor. Once done I ate a quick breakfast and headed over see about a flight to Bagram or Kabul. They told me it was a 10 day wait to get to Kabul, and probably four days wait for Bagram. I happened to see the daily manifest behind the Airman working the counter and noticed a C-17 headed to Kabul that afternoon. I asked about it and he said it was full of a Maine Army National Guard security company. I asked what he meant by "full". He said 149 of the 154 seats were assigned, with 5 pallets of bags and gear. I told I traveled light and finally talked him into one of the last few seats. I was also able to finagle the remaining seats for some civilian air traffic controllers headed over for a year to work Afghan ATC and train as many folks as they could. It's good to be AF and be able to speak the Airman's language...
So now I had to kill time until our flight lock down about noon. After a quick breakfast I decided to walk around as much as allowed on the compound and quickly realized how incredibly beautiful my surroundings were. The included pictures here can't do it justice. It was a cool, crisp morning with the sun rising over the mountains. Bishkek is in a bowl surrounded on all sides by amazing, shear, snow covered peaks. The air was perfectly clear. I got to as high a point as I could and took a few quick pictures. Maybe I'll have a bit more time to explore here on my way out. It has been a bit tense since the Kyrgyzstan civil war several weeks ago, but so far the new local government is still supportive of our Air Base.
At noon I reported for the pre-flight lock down with my new friends in the Maine Army Guard. Good bunch of soldiers reporting over for a one year stint in Kabul. It was a taste of the Army life I hadn't experienced in quite a while. It was also interesting to talk to them all about their civilian jobs, what motivated them to come over, and stay in the Guard. I realized what fine young patriots we still have in America. Talk eventually turned to the heritage of the Maine Volunteers, the infamous battle of little round top, and BGen Chamberlain winning the Medal of Honor for his actions there. A proud bunch of young soldiers. I was proud to be heading into Kabul with them, but boy do they pack some gear. We were literally wedged in like sardines for the three hour flight into Kabul. Maybe I should have waited for that later flight... Not really, because my 62 day clock didn't start ticking until my boots hit the tarmac in Afghanistan, so the sooner I got there, the sooner I could get home.
I got to KIA where I'd be sleeping, eating, and working for the next couple of months in late afternoon/early evening. After finally getting my bags off the pallets, finding a bunk, and eating some food, I crashed hard till morning. Turns out I may have set some kind of record getting all the way to Kabul from Denver in under 72 hours. All on about a total of 8-10 hours of cat naps along the way. Oh, and plenty of coffee. Gina should see the $8 charge on our AMEX come through for the awesome coffee I had in Zurich.
My boss here told me to take Sunday off and recuperate, but my eyes opened bright about 5am, so I decided to start working off the bat. More on that in the next post.
At noon I reported for the pre-flight lock down with my new friends in the Maine Army Guard. Good bunch of soldiers reporting over for a one year stint in Kabul. It was a taste of the Army life I hadn't experienced in quite a while. It was also interesting to talk to them all about their civilian jobs, what motivated them to come over, and stay in the Guard. I realized what fine young patriots we still have in America. Talk eventually turned to the heritage of the Maine Volunteers, the infamous battle of little round top, and BGen Chamberlain winning the Medal of Honor for his actions there. A proud bunch of young soldiers. I was proud to be heading into Kabul with them, but boy do they pack some gear. We were literally wedged in like sardines for the three hour flight into Kabul. Maybe I should have waited for that later flight... Not really, because my 62 day clock didn't start ticking until my boots hit the tarmac in Afghanistan, so the sooner I got there, the sooner I could get home.
I got to KIA where I'd be sleeping, eating, and working for the next couple of months in late afternoon/early evening. After finally getting my bags off the pallets, finding a bunk, and eating some food, I crashed hard till morning. Turns out I may have set some kind of record getting all the way to Kabul from Denver in under 72 hours. All on about a total of 8-10 hours of cat naps along the way. Oh, and plenty of coffee. Gina should see the $8 charge on our AMEX come through for the awesome coffee I had in Zurich.
My boss here told me to take Sunday off and recuperate, but my eyes opened bright about 5am, so I decided to start working off the bat. More on that in the next post.
What,you are taking pictures...what's up with that??
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