June.
June marked a number of things this year. First of all, I think June 5th (or was it 15th?) marked the mid way point of this deployment (using our calculated return date of 29Jan09). Second, it meant I was going on my EML (Environmental Leave?), otherwise known as R&R. Third, and most importantly, June 10th was Dee and my 2nd wedding anniversary.
The half way point of any venture, or adventure, is a great mile stone. It is something to look forward to because it is measurable. “OH SWEET! We are half way there!” can be heard with almost any journey. It makes the whole thing seem doable. Doable and easy are completely different, but doable, means you can get through it, because at least 50% of the work is done. The way we look at half way here is that it’s all downhill; a cruise to the finish, mustering through the rest of the hard stuff knowing that home is at the other end of the coming half. I, fortunately enough in my opinion, took my leave in June. It is easy to see the greatness of taking it later…less time in theater when you get back. But I saw it as “DAMN that’s a LONG WAYS AWAY”. Plus, June is my wedding anniversary and I wanted to see my wife. Now that I’m back from leave/R&R, I have less working days than what I had already completed prior to leave. And when those working days are done, I go home. HOME! The day we arrived, we were already thinking of what had to be overcome in order to go home. Now, it is in sight. And, I’m in a better mood about it; because I GOT THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
LEAVE, R&R, EML, whatever you want to call it, it is the most deserved and needed break from work/theater/war that any person could ever get. For 15 month deployments, we get charged 18 days leave. I think 12 month deployers only get 15 days. With summer traveling in the Middle East though, my 18 days turned to 26 due to poor flying conditions caused by sand storms; but still only get charged 18 (pretty sweet…kinda).
I figured I would have the entire day prior to leaving to pack, but being the precautious person that I am I packed my clothes on the 6th in the afternoon. At 2230, I was informed that I was leaving by convoy to Baghdad in the morning and had to sign out at 0315 for the CLP that was leaving at 0730 (yeah… doesn’t make sense to me either). So yeah, I scrambled to take a shower and pack all my stuff up that I was leaving so that it was somewhat secure while I was absent from the area. I left the FOB at around 0730 on the 7th and I spent the first 50 hours of my leave sitting/lying/sleeping on a concrete slap at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) having the flight that I was assigned to cancel or “delayed” every 4-6 hrs. The Army allows you to go to another location to sleep, but it takes 30-45 min to get there by a bus that runs every hour, to put you up on a cot in a giant tent. It wasn’t worth missing the next roll call or flight that opened up, so I stayed on the floor. I found that when you open up the new IOTV (body armor), it makes a pretty good ground pad to sleep on, cradling your butt just right and allowing you to sleep on your side when lying on the concrete floor. Finally, after 50 hours of lying around trying to sleep and keep busy… man I wish I hadn’t left my PSP back in my tough box – I still kick myself in the ass for that decision…. I made it to the Kuwait Air base. I spent about 3 hours there and was promptly driven with other OCONUS travelers to Kuwait City International Airport (civilian) to await my flight on Lufthansa to Germany. Arriving a day late in Frankfurt, but romantically on 10 June at 0540, I was with my wife, who was sleeping soundly in her hotel room. What’s nice is that the 18 days don’t start until the next full day, so I had a free day of leave. Unfortunately, I arrived a day later than Dee who planned a solid and time sensitive vacation. From there, ensued 18 days of pure unadulterated bliss (except for the camera incident…which only soiled 2 hrs of the trip but made for a good teaser later).
The Trip. Dee and I travel by car (S-Line Audi A3 turbo diesel) to Adenau, up in the Rhine Region to see the legendary Nurburgring Formula 1 and LeMans road course, and take a Rhine River Cruise. The upsetting part was that the track was closed for driving due to preparations for Super Bike Week that was starting the next day, but it was well worth the trip because a Porsche club was doing their thing and I was surrounded by millions of dollars in Porsches and one beautiful Red Ferrari. (drool mopping break). I was in heaven, Dee was bored silly, but the region is breathtakingly beautiful, so we both scored. From there was a drive back to Frankfurt to catch a train (then switch back to Frankfurt at the next stop due to a one missing camera only to catch the next train from Frankfurt) to Munich. Munich. Five days of discovering what Biergartens are all about, exploring an extraordinarily historic city by foot, and celebrating their 850th anniversary as a city. We took a side trip up to the Concentration Camp Dachau, to be humbled, remind us what hate mixed with ignorance can do, and remind me why I joined the Armed Forces of the United States (who Liberated Dachau in 1945). Next it was a train to tiny salt mining town of Hallstatt, Austria, then off to Salzburg/Berchtesgaden. Salzburg was a trip split in two. The First day we went to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. History, beautiful views from a mountain top included. Salzburg was the home of you guessed it, those close to Deanna, the home where they filmed Sound of Music. So we took the 4 hour SOM tour by minivan with a family of 4 and an older couple who fit the stereotype of annoying American Tourist. It wasn’t bad, if anything it showed us some areas around the city that we wouldn’t have seen and gave us some history lessons about the area as well. Did you know, and we stopped on the side of the road to learn about it, that Red Bull Energy Drink was developed by an Austrian man who traveled to Asia, had a raging headache and was given some elixir that was sweet and got rid of his headache. What followed was the development of Red Bull in its likeness, and a now he is a very rich man. And we saw a lake that was owned by some old lady. She didn’t own the land around it, just the water, and you paid her directly for fishing and boating rights. Weird huh? From there, we traveled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a side trip Mittenwald, which was by far the most amazing area for outdoor recreation ever, then back to Frankfurt, rounding out our trip. The highlights in one simple list, in order of importance: Deanna and all that involved her presence, the beer, the coffee, the food (who knew that I would love red cabbage… not me), eis (their Ice cream), running barefoot on a soccer field in Garmisch, the cool temperatures, and being way away from Iraq. To view our pictures, you can check out Dee’s Shutterfly posting. The link is: http://chrisanddee.shutterfly.com/action/
The travels back to Iraq were just as frustrating as the departure, albeit much more comfortable. I was stuck in Kuwait for 53 hours, but there they have billeting and I had an air conditioned cot and access to MWR movie showings to keep busy. After finally getting out of Kuwait and back to BIAP, 17 hrs after arrival, we squeezed our way (there were a bunch of traveling at the same time) onto a helicopter and returned to the FOB at 0100 on the 3d of July.
So now, I’m back and settled into a new living situation. I moved in to a CHU (Container Housing Unit) on the 5th of July and am writing from the comfort of my own personal, climate controlled space. It’s, by my estimation 8x20ft, but it’s ALL MINE. I can go back at the end of the day and be by myself, away from the clinic. The good part about it is that it is significantly closer to the gym, laundry service and is on the back side of the DFAC and only adds 3-4 min of walking to my daily commute by foot.
That’s all for now. Enjoy some photos in the shutterfly and I look forward to scratching off the weeks until my return in approximately 6-7 months. I think someone said we are less than 200 days out at this point. I hope he’s right.
