There and Back Again... A Soldier's Tale

Well, the re-enlistment went well and got to see some cool piece of history, as well as hang out on a FOB that doesnt require me to carry my weapon around everywhere (lucky punks). But it was nice. Got to hang out with one of our HUMINT (human intelligence) translators for the day and play some table tennis, some pool, wanted to play darts. And got a major tease from the MWR personnel cuz the FOB we were at is run by State Department personnel, so State Department personnel are allowed to consume alcohol while deployed. So that sucked seeing all that alcohol and couldnt have a sip. Its like that old sailor saying. Water Everywhere but not a Drop to Drink. One question I have is who ordered the CH-47 model industrial strength blowdryer... Talk about some heat. For those wondering, a CH-47 is the nomenclature for a Chinook. and standing behind one with engines on is like having a 20' tall blowdryer blowing on your entire body (this plus the fact that it was still like 96 degrees at 2215.) So it kind of sucked. Had to stand there because they screwed up which flight it was. Was originally announced as Marne Express. But then they were like oh crap, its the AMR flight. But they had room to allow everyone to get on. So then they had to have everyone stand there with the chinook exhaust blowing on us while they read off the manifest roster. And once on, we lifted off only to do a roundabout to pick up yet another contractor. Was funny to see the rear crew-chief hop off and simulate a running motion to the contractor (course the flight scheduler thought he meant her, but when she started approaching, he waved her off, pointed at the contractor and again simulated the running gesture. Once all that was said and done, we were on our way back. It took all of like 10 minutes to get back and once there we downloaded off the chinook, signed back into the FOB, and went to our Battalion to sign back in there. Once that was done, we had a moment to relax and look at some of the pics from the day. Was funny to see the height difference between my old Platoon Leader/XO and myself. It was like A.S. and myself. But I left Battalion and headed straight to my room, downloaded all my gear, cleared off my bed and crashed for the rest of the night. But it was a nice trip, but it was good to be back in my bed.

Oh, I did get both the Autographed pictures and the Care Package. The pics were great, and that care package. Some of the food I still might be eating towards the end of the deployment...