(30AUG2008) I leave the states via Atlanta, GA, and it’s a little odd to consider that I won’t be back in my country until, most likely, June 2009. As I’m waiting to board the plane, CNN carries stories of FAA computer glitches delaying flights nationwide. We board on time but sit on the tarmac for over 4 hours, adding to the duration of an already lengthy flight.
During the flight, I realize that the smallpox vaccine I’d gotten the previous week is definitely working. My left arm throbs and itches across the Atlantic.
I land in Frankfurt, Germany at about 1000 local time on Wednesday, August 27th, and find the USO on the bottom level of one of its concourses. Lest there be any doubt, the USO is great. Not only do they arrange to have celebrities and musicians visit overseas bases, but when traveling abroad for the military it is invaluable to have a place where you can relax, check your email, and get local information. I’ve used the USO offices in Frankfurt and Ramstein extensively and am very grateful for their services.
Having not arranged or figured out how I was going to get out of Frankfurt beforehand, I ask the USO personnel how I can get to Ramstein Air Base and she says “I’ve got a shuttle leaving in 5 minutes.” Perfect.
Ramstein Air Base services much of the AOR, though flights are irregularly intermittent. I get to Ramstein about an hour before a flight is leaving for Bagram, Afghanistan, but the flight has other responsibilities and is not accepting pax. I’m told there are no flights the next day, but to check in on Friday, August 29th.
I get a room in on-base lodging and welcome the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, take a long shower, and regroup before entering theater.
When traveling on official orders, one simply walks into a military terminal and signs up for a flight going where you need to go; if you miss it, you sign up for the next one. It’s oddly simplistic. On Friday, I check in for a flight into Bagram that boards around 1600 and leaves about an hour later. We’re on a C-15 cargo and med-evac plane; ours is carrying vehicles into Afghanistan and will carry wounded soldiers and other personnel back to Germany.
The pax sit on drop-down seats along the sides of the fuselage, two massive wheeled vehicles between us. One of them is a Buffalo, and it strains against its chains as we take off and bounces on its tires when we bank. The pax exchange nervous glances, hoping that the vehicle stays put during 
our flight. The other vehicle is a 4-wheel Cougar tied down at the end of the hold.
Before long, we’re given the green light to take off our seat belts. They provide pillows, blankets, and foam mats and we’re allowed to stretch out on the floor around and among the cargo. Many of us take advantage of this opportunity but all the best places are taken by the time I get around to it, so I end up cuddling up to a Buffalo tire.
We land in Bagram around 0130 on August 30th, and I find a bed in a transient tent before getting up to find my colleagues and start my job.
USO = United Service Organization
AOR = Area of Responsibility – usually referring to Iraq or Afghanistan
Pax = Passengers
Med-evac = Medical Evacuation
When traveling on official orders, one simply walks into a military terminal and signs up for a flight going where you need to go; if you miss it, you sign up for the next one. It’s oddly simplistic. On Friday, I check in for a flight into Bagram that boards around 1600 and leaves about an hour later. We’re on a C-15 cargo and med-evac plane; ours is carrying vehicles into Afghanistan and will carry wounded soldiers and other personnel back to Germany.
our flight. The other vehicle is a 4-wheel Cougar tied down at the end of the hold.
