Boots on the Ground

Monday 29 September 2008
2200

I am back in the AOR with a BOG date of 27 September. (BOG = “Boots On Ground”, i.e. the date you set foot in theater. )

My trip was smooth and uneventful. Commercial flight from Detroit to Dallas. Charter flight from Dallas to Ali Al Salem. Overnight stay in a tent at Ali, and then a C-17 from Ali to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and then a short ride to my new home at Camp As Sayliyah.

I have not flown out of Dallas before. They do things a little differently there – some I liked less than Atlanta, and some more. For one thing there was a 25 lb. limit on carry-on baggage that took me totally by surprise. At first I was pissed off, but then I just shrugged and readjusted. I took a few things out of my rucksack and put them in my pockets and laptop case, and then checked the ruck. I don’t like being separated from it, but I don’t really need everything in it during the flight. I forgot a couple things until it after it was too late, like a set of headphones for my laptop (I didn’t have my iPod since it was empty). I do have to say that the people there took *very* good care of us. They had a nice waiting area at the USO with food and sundries for us, similar to Atlanta.

There was also a large contingent of civilian volunteers there at the airport to see us off. I must have gotten at least a dozen hugs from ladies and another dozen handshakes from men, all wishing me well and a safe return. Considering that I’m a total stranger, that’s pretty cool. It feels a bit emotional now, just thinking about it. The mainstream media may be cynical about the war, and I’m sure that represents a significant slice of public opinion as well. But there are also plenty of people out there who think we’re doing the right thing and who want to see us finish the job successfully. Count me in that camp. J

On the plane I read “The Other Side of Midnight” by Sidney Sheldon. It was good light summer beach reading material. I never knew this, but he wrote and produced the TV show “I Dream of Jeannie”, which I watched regularly when it was on. After reading that, I started reading “Worth the Fighting For” by John McCain. It came out in 2003, and is about his career in politics and the people who he looked up to and worked with. Since I was a young adult of voting age during his entire political career , it is very interesting. I haven’t finished it yet, but one thing that surprised me was the extent and depth of his respect for and friendship with a number of Democrats. He described the political atmosphere of the time as being in transition. The people he knew and looked up to were from a more collegial atmosphere where people were opponents, but at least civil to each other and able to work in a bipartisan manner.

McCain dates the present vitriolic and hyper-partisan nature of national party politics from 1 May 1985, when the Democrats controlling Congress voted to seat a Democrat who had lost by 147 votes. Things went downhill from there and haven’t let up since. Given today’s incredibly hostile atmosphere between the parties (I sometimes wonder myself how today's Democrats can even be considered to be real Americans given their bizarre un-American beliefs), it is fascinating and refreshing to read about the way politics was conducted in an earlier era. I hope that when John McCain is President that he can bring some of that attitude back into our national government. With Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in charge in Congress, it doesn’t seem very likely. Anyway, I’m enjoying his book.

We got into Ali Al Salem on Saturday evening, too late for a flight. As I scanned in (the military ID now has a bar code which makes it much easier to process in and out of places), a soldier read off of a sheet and told me “I-10”. I had heard him tell this to the two people in front of me, but had no idea what it meant. So I asked him “What does ‘I-10’ mean?”. He said “that’s your tent.”. Ahh, I see – we aren’t getting out tonight. So after the briefing I went and found my tent (rows A-R, columns 1-13, 12 beds per tent, you do the math…). They don’t have linen here, so I showered and changed underwear, and slept on the bare mattress in my pants and t-shirt with a towel for a blanket.

On Sunday morning we were to report to an accountability formation at 0700. At that formation they told us our roll call formation for Al Udeid was at 1730. So we had the day free with a projected flight after that roll call. After the formation I went and got a cup of coffee, then a haircut, and then bought a daily internet access card. I spent the rest of the day in the MWR center on my laptop, mostly playing WoW. We reported at 1730 with all our stuff ready to travel, waited around awhile, and got on a C-17 to Al Udeid at 2000.

Flying in a C-17 is a trip. It’s a huge cargo plane, all utilitarian with no frills. It’s interesting to sit and see all the electrical and hydraulic lines that control the plane running overhead and on the sides of the fuselage. When we landed at Al Udeid and got out onto the tarmac, we were just one plane in a long line in a vast open area. Looking up at the nose of the plane and reading the numbers painted there, and looking around at all the other planes, I got a familiar feeling – something short of goosebumps, but similar in nature. I am always in awe of the Air Force and the way they control all the resources and technology they have. I’m sure I’d feel the same watching Navy ships at sea if I ever had the chance.

I got to my room about midnight on Sunday, and was able to get some sleep before reporting in to work on Monday AM. I had a day of introductions, meetings, and resumed in-processing where I left off.

Today I got my cell phone, secure area access ID, updated local privilege card, computer accounts, and an overview of the eighteen-step project management process as practiced by ASG-QA DPW. I also attended three meetings and met a bunch of people whose names and functions I’ll have to ask again the next time I see them. Whatever else I may be here, I don’t think it’s likely that I’ll be bored!

I was dead tired this evening, but I just had to try to reverse the major disaster that occurred on my leave – losing all my music! I upgraded to a new Thinkpad, and in the course of transferring my software I managed to destroy all copies of my music, including wiping out both my external backup hard drive and my iPod. Don’t ask how, but everything that could go wrong did, and the combination of stupid iTunes software and stupid mistakes on my part left me with nothing left of my 307 albums except the song titles. :-(

Fortunately, my paranoid OCD tendencies had caused me to leave a complete backup of my computer on a second external hard drive in a footlocker over here. So I have now recovered everything. *Whew!*

Now it’s time to wrap up and go to bed. I need to get back into a routine of regular PT, and I might as well start tomorrow….

Mood: Ready to get back to work
Music: Avenged Sevenfold – A Little Piece of Heaven