Time to Armor Up

Before I get into the good stuff, I must give a tip of the hat to the breakfast buffet at the Darmstadt Maritimhotel. Who needs eggs and bacon? They had an amazing selection of fish ... smoked salmon, several kinds of pickled herring, and some other smoked fish that reminded me of some smoked bluefish I once enjoyed. I also helped myself to their cold meat selection, including Germany's answer to proscuitto (sorry, Franz, it was good, but it still doesn't match the raw hams from italy, Spain, Portugal, or even Japan). I even tried something that might have been head cheese. I figured that was the time, since I could only grab one slice and push it away if it tasted like ass.

Anyhow ... we caught the flight Sunday afternoon from Ramstein to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, via Verona rather than Aviano. Touched down at Al Udeid at 1AM local time and, after local indoc and customs, found out there's a flight to Bagram Monday morning. I'll spend less than 12 hours on the ground here ... others have been stuck waiting at Al Udeid for days. Ironically enough, my 179-day deployment clock starts on Valentine's Day. Go figure.

So today, before boarding the flight to Bagram (hereinafter BAF), I get to strap on my body armor and Kevlar helmet for my first ventur into a war zone. Amazing 23 years in the navy (active and reserve), and the closeest I got to combat was the Friday night Happy Hour at the Naples O Club during Desert Shield. Now, as a civilian, I'm taking the big plunge. My next post will be from a combat zone ... with pictures, if they're not OPSEC violations.