Greetings from Kyrgyzstan!

Greetings from Russia,  or Kyrgyzstan (the Kyrgyz Republic)  to be more specific, at Manus AFB after a long and grueling 14 hour milk run.

Nine hours to Ireland. Spent about and hour in Shannon Ireland and then on to  Leipzig Germany for an hour or so.  Shannon was a very nice airport and the people very friendly and helpful  I decided to try some local flair and purchased  which included a berry soda and some gummy bear type treats called Randoms.  The price was 10 US dollars!  However when I gave her ten dollars she informed me " I was due a wee bit of change" and dropped some coins into my hand.  Not sure how that worked but the treat was nice.

 Then back on the plane (which packed us like sardines) for a 3 hour flight into Germany.  First thing I noticed was the sewage like smell as we walked from the airplane to the buses that took us into the airport.  Once inside, the smell did not improve and having to use the bathroom, decided the airplane bathrlooms smelled much better then the airport"s offering of "washing stations".  The area set up for military troops was a bit confined and very warm and humid and stale.  Better than the frigid conditions outside but it did take some getting use to........  Toured the shops a bit and decided on some carmel/vanilla ice cream which seemed to be made locally, and witht he length of the line to make purchases, that how i spent my layover time......in line.  Just as I reached the register the call came to board the plane........I was luckier than the 50 or so people behind me..........so, I ate the now nearly melted ice cream enroute  to my plane.

Once we were squeezed back into our seats (the space betewwn rows were so narrow you have to step onto the seats to wlak your way to your own position).  Next leg of the journey was a 5 hour flight to Kurkistan. Upon landing, the snow was coming down with great intent.  The whole base is made up of tan colered tents with inner aluminum frames.  Some tents are the size of GP large and others look like they could double for airplane hangars.  One of the smaller tents was set up for our orientaiton to "transition life."  Basically, we are housed in the warehouse-sized tents that have row after row of metal bunk beds, crammed a foot apart where we stay until our final flight is available.  We were given a strip map and told to pick up bedding and find a place to sleep.  Linens were not the crisp Army white with usual olive drab wool blanket.  Instead we were each handed a plastic garbage bag full of mismatched linens that were probably rejected by the Salvation Army.  My under sheet is a thin pale blue and the top sheet is pink with green smudges. My quilt is nice and of a bright neon pink that says "best Wishes on Your Recovery"..............well, it is very warm.  My pillow is a piece of plastic with lumps inside and thecase is a charming lemon yellow.  Upon entering the giant berthing warehouse one is overwhelmed by the number of row after row of bunk beds.  The ceiling houses gian searchlight sized lighting system and thankfully on only light is utilized or it would be like living under a super nova!  The downsize, is that the light is always on......no windows and people are coming and going, sleeping and waking so that there is no sense of time.  All the bottom bunks were taken so we had to try to find top bunks that were in the same general area: for accountibility as well as safety in numbers philosophy.  As i was making my bed I noticed the soldier below me was awake and I asked her how long she had been waiting for her flight out.  She wa bundled in her brown and orange quilt, eyes a bit glazed over and looked rather vague for a moment and said, "2 or 3 days, I can't tell for sure" and all I could think was that would be us in a few days: totally out of sync in this terminal holding pattern.  Originally we were told we may spend 4-5 hours at the most in Kurkistan but looking at the steady amount of snow and having been issued linens and a bed, our hoped for a speedy egress was dim at best.  So, beds were made, weapons stowed in the weapons locker, we made our way to the 24 hour chow hall for some long-awaited nourishment. Once inside  the chow hall looks a bit like a giant bazaar with stalls of food spread about for the choosing. You can pick from hot meals, deli, fruit, salad etc.  The staff are all Kurks and speak very little English but are very busy keeping thingls cleaned up.  As we eat we note marines, Army, Navy and Air Force all about, some coming back from theater and others, like us, just coming in.......but we all have the same glazed look of transition without end.

So, after we finally figured out is was 0100 Wednesday morning (1200 Tuesday back home) we crawled into our rack for some long-awaited sleep.  At some point I began to dream I was in a rain storm, awoke and found the condensation had built to the point that drops of water were coming down from the roof of the tent.........now I knew why all the top bunks were empty.  I did find a top bunk more into the center of the tent (less rain) and hastily remade my bed with the help of my battle buddy, who was in the same boat (we were hoping we didnt actually need a boat.)  Of course, once awake we had to pee......so boots back on, layers of shirts, thermals and coats back on and we made it to the maloderous container of toilets after trudging around snow drifts.  We started laughing when we realized the absurdity of our situation and we probably appeared like two looney LTs as we trudged back to our quarters! 

This morning we find our flight has been delayed (no surprise---but still worth a groan or two) and so we did a fast wash in the bathroom container and headed back to the chow hall for more nourishment. We did find out that all of our gear we had so painstakely sorted out amongs the snow and other hundreds of duffle bags had been stacked incorrectly on the pallets and we will have to spend another cold enduring 2 hours resorting and restacking (the Army has a way of filling down time quite cleverly).  On the bright side, we all just founf out we have wireless (iffy) in our tent so my BB and I are trying to get a few words out to everyone while we can.  Picture us sitting in an oversized homeless shelter, wrapped in all out gear, dodging reain drops and we pound awya on our keyboard and you will have a good idea of our reality!).

I will keep you up to date as much as possible.  It seems very unreal when I realize I have been to Ireland, Germany and now Russia...........

 

More later!