I made it

Yea, I made it.  There were some issues at the airfield and we almost got diverted to Kuwait.  Fortunately they ended up putting us down on an airbase here in Afghanistan and then we got a 2 hour hop to Camp Phoenix.  I arrived here at about 0100 this morning, showered ( for the first time in 2 1/2 days) and then went to bed.  I feel much more human today.  I have seen my medical chain of command and it still looks like I am going to Mazar-e, but it is not set in stone yet.  I will be on Camp Phoenix for the next few days doing more in processing then off to my new duty station.

My quarters here are pretty nice.  I have a single room that is 9×7 with an air conditioner, cable TV, and LAN line.  The computer line is 35$ per month, but since I will not be here very long I will just use someone else’s hook up.  I understand that there is good Internet connection in Mazar-e as well.  The showers are hot and pretty high pressure, so life is good.  :}

Now off to lunch.

Manis Kyrgyzstan

HA spelled it correctly this time.  

The plane did fly with all of us and no fuel leaks. :}  I have been in Manis for about 2 hours and will be boarding a plane in about 4-5 hours for Bagaram Afghanistan.  We arrived here about 0230h local and will be headed back 1.5 hours on time zones and 2 hours by air. Who makes up these time zones anyway?  What is the deal with .5 hour time zones?  Someone is out there just trying to confuse things. 

I still dont know what my final destination is going to be, but it has been nice travelling with a small group of people I know, so there is some consistancy with all the travel plans.  I have made some good conections with doctors who will be in the hospital in Bagaram, so at least I will know who I am refering my patients to. 

Well, hopefully more in the next few days.  I have no idea what is going to happen.  At least up to this point it has been slow, but predictable.  Now I am entering more unfamiler territory.

Germany (still)

Ok I am still in Germany.  We managed to get on a flight to the right area, then had to get off again because of a fuel leak.  Well I am not going to argue about that.  About 3-4 hours later they had it fixed and we boarded again, and deplaned again. Fuel leak.  Again, not going to argue.  So after 12 hours at the airhead I am sitting back in the computer lab from yesterday hoping that we will get out on the same aircraft tomorrow.

Just a note on how this travel thing works.  If the whole unit is going they contract with the airforce for 1+ aircraft for the whole unit.  Slightly differant story if you are travelling in small groups or singlely.  We show up on the airbase and go to the terminal and ask to get sent to the place we are going to be assinged.  It is complicated by only being able to request one destination at a time.  Say Bogera Afghanistan is where you want to go, but there are not a lot of flights there you might request a flight to Maris Kurdbeckistan ( I really need to look that one up to spell it right), which is a large hub, but then if it turns out that there is one going to Bogera then you are still stuck on the Maris flight.  We do have some priority for flights, but can be bumped off the flight for a number of reasons so getting slotted for a flight does not always mean that you are getting on it for real.  Lots of waiting and hoping.  So I am hoping that I get on tomorrow. 

It is not just a job, it is an adventure.

Germany

I am now in Germany.  I spent 2 hours sitting on a runway in Columbus Ga. while waiting for a thunderstorm to clear the Atlanta airport.  We were then 30 min late for our flight to germany, but everything was backed up so it was an easy conection.  I then made a bad error.  In the rush to get everything done I did not get another book. (Finished the one from Sonya).  But, no problem there are 12-15 differant channels to choose from on the plane.  WRONG!  It was a buget flight with 1 inflight movie and that was it.  I spent a lot of time just sleeping with the aid of Ambien.  Better living through chemistry as I always say.

We finally arrived in Germany and then bussed, cabbed, vanned, and walked with multiple loading and unloading equipment for the next 7 hours or so.  It is now 2200 hours local Germany time and I am trying to get something out prior to getting a few hours of sleep tonight.  I have to report to the airhead at 0300 to get on a 0330 manifest and then hopefully on the plane to one of the …Stans.  I think it is Kurdbecistand.  P.S. Yes I know I just butchered that spelling. I am currently outside of a library pirating an internet connection.

I hope to talk to you all in the next couple of days.

Questions

Ok this is to reply to several questions that I recieved.

ANA = Afghanistan National Army.  That is the group I will be working with.

WOG = Willamette Orthopeadic Group.  The surgery center that I work at in Salem.

 And thanks for all the supportive replies.

Done

I am now done with all the paperwork and training needed to send me to Afghanistan.  I will have 2 days off then ship out to Germany and then enroute to ANA.  I am not sure how long it will take me to get to ANA.  I am told that there could be several 1-5 day layovers based on aircraft avalibity.  I will keep you up dated on the travel as I know more information.

One of the other PAs has family in Atlanta and he has invited me to join him there for the next 2 days.  I will be joining him, just so I can get out of here.  

 The great news is I just talked to Jason at WOG and he has the CD drive and will be putting it in and install all the software today and shipping it tomorrow.  Again Bless You Jason.

For those of you waiting for cool stories hang in there.  Give me some time in ANA and I should be able to relay some interesting happenings.  :}

Quote

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it.

                                            Voltaire

Brain feeling better

My head feels much better today.  We continued to do paperwork and classes today and I could understand them all. :}  Inspite of my whine yesterday this is one of the most relaxing and well run moblizations I have ever done.  They are really treating us well and going out of their way to make sure that it runs smoothly, so overall this has been pretty nice.

I am still waiting to get my laptop.  The CD drive went out just prior to me leaving and Jason from WOG now has it and will be installing the new drive and software before sending it out to me.  He is a true God send for me, as I have great hopes to continue communicating well with everyone based on having my laptop with me and not 7000 miles away.  Thanks again Jason.

My brain hurts

Ok, I am now at Ft. Benning and working through the inprocessing and getting ready for ANA.  I have spent the day getting equipment and going to classes.  In the Army's efforts to provide an outstanding education about security threats that can affect a soldier, I spent 3.5 hours watching a video that reminded me of a Peanuts special.  WAA WAAA WAAA.  The sound was so bad we could understand about 20% of it.  I then spent another hour reading power point slides about various militay subjects.  Not as painfull, but as the end of the day aproached my brain could no longer hold out and I still have several more hours to do.  NOT TONIGHT.

 I will be here for about a week for all the deployment prep then several days off, and then off to ANA.

I will continue updating as I have time.

On my way.

Tomorrow morning at 0900h local Salem time I am leaving for Ft. Benning. I will be there 7-10 days and then head out to Afghanistan. Probably no new news for a few days.