Movement (9-11 October)

We started out Sunday morning by turning in our two bags that we wanted to go with us.  We had to weigh each one individually.  Then an hour later we had to turn in the two bags that may not show up for quite a while.  We also had to weigh each of those individually.  We then cleared out our barracks and went to lunch.  After lunch we went to the York Minster for a pre-deployment religious ceremony.  It was nice.  The building is amazing.  We got back, had about an hour of free time, then onto buses for a four hour trip to somewhere in England.  Classic Army, we got there at 10:30 pm but the place didn’t open until 11.  The bus drivers wouldn’t wait, so we hung out in the parking lot for half an hour.  It was cold, but luckily not raining.  We unloaded all of our bags from the transport truck and then checked them in.  They took us to breakfast at about 1:30am.  We then got onto another bus for a half hour bus ride to Mildenhall air force base, where we boarded a flight to the middle east.  7 hours flying time, packed like lemmings.  I have a small head cold, so it was miserable.

The Army is big on “movement”.  You can be court martialed if you “miss movement”.  So there was a lot of yelling and screaming at everyone to make sure they knew where they were going and what time they had to be there.  It’s kind of frustrating as they treat us like four year olds.  It works, I guess.  We’re all here.  Our next flight will take us directly into Bastion which is nice.

Arrived in the Middle East.  We only waited about two hours which I guess is exceptionally fast.  Other people that have deployed, had to wait in various places for days sometimes.  They say that they are quick moving you in, but that it takes forever to move you out.  I guess we’ll see.  We were waiting in a welcome shed with air conditioning, pop, water and snacks.   Then suddenly they said to grab our stuff as we were loading in five minutes.  They asked for Majors and above and senior enlisted people to go to the front of the line.  I normally don’t take advantage of that, but I had been warned beforehand to get on the plane early.  It turns out I was able to sit on the side of the plane, with lots of leg room while the people in “coach” were packed together really tight.  We flew a couple of hours, then they told us to get our flack jackets on and helmets.  They turned off all of the lights and we did a rapid descent into camp Bastion.  Quick and easy.  We deplaned, waited for all of our bags which was also a cluster, then packed them onto trucks and buses.  We then were taken to our temporary housing.  10 man tents, but not too bad.  The showers have constantly running, hot water, no more pushing the button.  The toilets are metal without a toilet seat, much like the ones you see in prison.  It takes a little balancing, and you can’t be asleep.

Minster in Strensall England where we attended predeployment ceremony

Finding my bag in a sea of bags before heading out

It's finally time to start getting ready for why they sent me here...