Boots On Ground, Baby!!!

So, there we are sitting in the plane awaiting departure, when we were told that there is a delay in departure due to some weight issues. Oh, OK. No worries. I guess it wasn't too big an issue since the Space A people are still on board...we'll get to that later...

Rota, Spain was a great layover. My very good friend, Rachael, from a previous mobilization met me at the terminal and we sat down for a cup of coffee to catch up. I'm lucky. I've got great friends who are willing to go out of their way to see me just for a little while. It means the world to me!

Everything else about the trip was uneventful...until...we got to Bahrain...like I said we'd get back to the weight issue. We got stuck in Bahrain because of some yucky stuff going on downrange and the terminal management agreed to offload out baggage so we could get some stuff out like a change of clothes and toiletries. Out come the baggage containers and the workers pulled the bags off an laid them neatly on the deck. I wandered from one pile to another and nothing. No bs with Pacheco on it and no guitar case. Hmm, perhaps they forgot to offload a container...NOPE! After some deep digging we come to find out that someone at the AMC terminal at Norfolk Naval Station decided that they would solve the weight issue by simply removing baggage. Oh, it doesn't matter whose baggage it is, right? Don't worry about the fact that you could have left Space Available baggage or even the passengers themselves behind. SPACE AVAILABLE!!! If there's no SPACE AVAILABLE, they don't go!

Two straight days traveling and I'm left to marinade. Well, not quite. After practically a while day trying to coordinate lodging, we were bused over to The Westin. This airline did an outstanding job of takin care of us. Rooms and meals were taken care of...and they were some nice rooms...And we ate some great meals! So, everything almost balanced out. I was just wishing I had my guitar with me to unwind.

After this detour we made it to Djibouti without incident. I took my first ride on a C-17, which is a big Air Force transport plane. Lots of seats, lots of floor space. Once we were airborne and at cruising altitude people zonked out. I put on my sweater and my headphones, threw my travel pillow behind my head, and plopped down on the metal deck to get some sleep. I actually went into a pretty deep sleep because I was awoken to take my seat for turbulence and forgot where I was!

So, now I'm in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The sun is STRONG! Definitely sucking down lots of water. The food is OK. It going to be a bit of a challenge eating healthy and lean

in order to maximize my dechunkification. Not to mention I've got some sort of stomach bug...I eat and two hours later it's already on its way out the back end. Not fun! 

I'm living in a temporary CLU (Containerized Living Unit) with one of my buddies from Out stay at Ft Jackson. It's not bad. The area where all the CLUs are is known as CLUville. Some, like mine are single stacks. Others are triple stacked. Pretty interesting setup. Well, the AC works...everything after that is gravy! 

Well, I hope no one gives me grief for showing up to my first day of work tomorrow in civvies. Fingers crossed for a solid first week.