The trip over.......

We flew out of Topeka, KS at O dark thirty on 20 Oct. I must confess that I was a little inebriated, as were many of my fellow travelers. General Order # 1 prohibits alcohol use in theater (and they wonder why service members go a little overboard when they return...) so it was the last bit of celebrating we "knew" we could do.

Several hours later we landed in Leipzig, Germany. It was mid-morning there. Basically this was a refueling/crew change stop. We were able to deplane and take a bus to the terminal. All I wanted to do was get on the internet and let folks know where I was. Ended up paying $5 for an hour of internet access but only used about 20 minutes. Some of my more enterprising traveling companions, however, found a place to buy some beers (or should I say "biers"?). They optimistically purchased more than they could consume in the available time. Many of you know that I'll do most anything to help someone out, so I "helped" them consume the extras when the announcement came that we had to go. Becks is a fairly full-bodied pilsner that one would normally savor but these were not normal circumstances. From the Becks website, "Becks is brewed to be responsibly enjoyed by adults". Well, I've never claimed to be an adult, or responsible for that matter, so.......two bottles of bier and three minutes later, we were boarding the buses to return to the plane.The new flight crew was more fun than the first. They had a sense of humor and we were entertained by their antics.

The next leg of our trip took us to Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan near Bishkek, the capital. We arrived just before midnight on the 20th. This was to be our home for the next three days. The fortunate high-ranking few and the females actually got rooms here. The rest of us got to "camp out" in the huge tents. Here's a pic. It only shows half the tent taken from on top of a locker at one end. See my rack? Yeah, it's the one on the right..... and there's one of my fellow Chiefs heading somewhere.

While the sleeping arrangements may have left something to be desired, Manas wasn't that bad. Internet access was free and we could buy two beers a day, and when they say day, they mean 24 hours! No kidding, if you bought your first beer at 9 pm, you couldn't buy your first one the next night until 9:01 pm. They scan ID cards to keep track of everyone's beer purchases. The food was pretty good too.

The base was named after Peter J. Ganci Jr., a FDNY Fire Chief killed in the 9/11 attacks, until someone discovered there is an Air Force Instruction prohibiting overseas bases from being named after U.S. citizens. So they named it Manas for the int'l airport nearby and it is unofficially known as Ganci Air Base. The club (if you can call it that) is named "Pete's Place" in his honor. Pete's is where we found the beer. It also has three pool tables and a projection screen for movies, games, etc. They have bingo and karaoke nights for fun.

We couldn't leave the base (like folks who were actually stationed there) so I can't tell you much about the surrounding area but there were some pretty mountains when we could see them. This is the best picture I could get as they were obscured by overcast most of the time we were there.

We flew out of Manas at O dark thirty on the 24th and landed at Kabul Int'l Airport shortly after dawn. This flight was on a C-17 Globemaster III military aircraft and was the only part of our journey that wasn't on a civilian chartered aircraft. This plane is huge, the only one we have bigger is the C-5A/B Galaxy. Here is a picture of the inside looking forward from my seat.

Then another looking back, see our luggage back there? The tail is open since they were still loading when this was taken. It's a monster, isn't it? This is the largest military aircraft I've flown in. It's only been C-9s and C-130s before. Maybe I'll get to catch a ride in a C-5 before my career is over.

Here's a picture of our plane on the tarmac at Kabul Int'l. Note the background scenery.





Lastly, here is yours truly on the flight in. Do I look tired?

Yes, I know that this all happened two months ago and I'm still behind on the blog. More to come, I promise. 'Til then, take care and I hope all is well with you.

Marte