Getting Started

Hello everyone. Since a few people have asked me to start this back up again, I'll see how it goes. I'll post here, along with emails as often as I can. I'll still only post pictures on Facebook, though, so email me if you don't know how to see those.

I left Vegas on Monday afternoon. It was very tough to see Jen crying as I left. I got to Baltimore at midnight that night, picked up my bags and got a hotel room for the night. I slept in 'til about 1pm the next day (jet-lagged) then got up, ate, and went to D.C. I took the train down and then transferred to the subway to take me to the east side of the national mall. I saw the standard things to see there: Library of Congress, Capitol Building, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korea Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, White House. There are pictures on Facebook. Then I took the train back to Baltimore, got my stuff, and went to the airport. I happened to meet up with my friend Jon, who is on his way to the same base as me, except he is coming all the way from Japan (yes, they have to go east all the way around the world). It was nice to meet up with someone I know, because otherwise I would have been going essentially by myself.

Anyways, we flew first to Rammstein, Germany. We only stopped there for an hour or so to unload/load passengers and refuel. Then we flew to Aviano, Italy to do the same thing. From there we flew to Al Udeid, Qatar. All in all, we left the U.S. late Tuesday night / early Wednesday morning and arrived here Thursday morning. Needless to say I was ready to get off the airplane. Once off, we had to do the whole process of immigrating into Qatar. This involved checking in our weapons, filling out forms, setting out bags in the appropriate spot, packing a bag for 72 hours (which is how long we might stay here waiting for a flight out), and giving our ID's to the local Qatari customs agents. That last part is what took the longest. We sat around for about 3 hours waiting for them to give us back our ID's. Once we did, we all got on a bus to take us to get our bunk assignments. From there, we got our linens and then went to drop off our stuff at the bunk. For the transients here, we stay in huge tents with about 50 bunk beds in them. I then went to go eat, then showered, then took a nap. Now, it's just a matter of killing time until they tell us when our flight leaves.