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The journey: Part 1 (Niceville, FL to Kyrgyzstan)

9/8/2011

3 Comments

 
The day is actually here, the day to board the plane and head out for Afghanistan.  Everyone that has been on deployments have all told me that the worst part of the deployment was the getting there.  I am about to see exactly why this is.  The best way for me to explain the trip is to show you the timeline of events….so here I go.

NOTE:  Time format is:  CST (Local time) - Of course it is in military time.

7 Sept 11:
Time 0400 (0400) - Wake up for trip to Ft Walton Beach, FL Airport
         0600 (0600) - Board plane for Fayetteville, North Carolina (Stopwatch
                             started)
         1009 (1109) - Arrived Fayetteville, NC
         1109 (1209) - Arrived Ft Bragg Army Base by base taxi (Taxi driver is 
                                from my hometown of Mount Vernon, New York!)
Picture
Waiting at Ft Bragg for over 8 hours.
         1930 (2030) - Board plane for Bangor, Maine (Along with 250 Army 
                                Airborne troops.)
Picture
Two women from the American Legion Auxiliary hugged every person boarding the plane.
         2115 (2215) - Arrived Bangor, Maine (20 people greeted us upon 
                                arrival...this is at 1015PM on a weeknight!)
Picture
In the airport, someone's parents brought a box of homemade lobster rolls (left). One wasn't enough for me, so i bought another one at the airport restaurant (right).
         2305 (0005) - Depart Bangor, Maine for  Leipzig/Halle, Germany
Picture
Yes it was a "normal" commercial like plane that I traveled on. It's a special company that the military hires to fly us overseas.
8 September 2011:
         0535 (1235) - Arrive Leipzig/Halle, Germany
Picture
Of course I had a beer in Germany!
         0805 (1505) - Board plane for Manas Transit Center, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
                                (go ahead and look it up to see where it is...I had to!)    
         1405 (0135) - Arrived Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Manas) (Stopwatch stopped)
Picture
Stopwatch that was started when I board the plane from Florida and landed in Kyrgyzstan.
So, we get to Manas in the middle of the night, over 32 hours after leaving my house, and we are made to sit through a 1-hour “fire hose” briefing (don’t ask me what they said).  We were then given time to find our sleeping tent and drop off our bags...oh no...it is not time to sleep!  We next have to go get our additional equipment issued to us at 0430 which take us to 0600 when we are finally released back to our beds for sleep.  Now that is a LONG day!
3 Comments
Gia Martinez
9/26/2011 08:26:53 pm

Wow is all I can say! Reading what you wrote and outlining what you are going through makes it so real what you and every other soldier has to go through! Everyone hears and reads about it in the media but reading what you wrote is much different than what I heR and read! Please stay safe and thank you for all that you do for us and this country! This is a great way to keep in contact with everyone!

Reply
Gary Turnipseed
9/27/2011 04:45:24 am

Gerri - you wouldn't like flying at United Airlines - our days are all like that, minus the lobster rolls. Ask Cathy.

Just kidding - sort of. Cathy and I are both very concerned for your safety. I'll try to send you an offline message later.

Thanks for the update. Try to get them to put lobster rolls on the menu over there.

Reply
Karen
9/28/2011 08:36:32 am

Hi Geri! Glad to hear you had a safe journey there and got to enjoy a few more beers than you expected. Thank you for serving our country and for all that you and Tim give up to do so. Stay safe and check the mail for some goodies in a few weeks ;). - Pichler

Reply



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    Gerri

    I'm a Major in the Air Force with 18 years of active duty service. I found out that I will be deploying to Afghanistan for 1 year starting Sept 11.

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