Back in Baghdad

So, I’m back to the IZ, although there is part of me that feels like I shouldn’t be here due to the myriad of obstacles that attempted to prevent me from being here. Let’s recap:

16 Jan: My leave officially ended at noon and I sat in the airport with my girlfriend until the plane took off around 2pm. The flight from Dallas to Atlanta was on time and uneventful, but what was originally scheduled as a short lay over to pick up some more R&R soldiers turned into the first of many delays in my travel back to theater. A wintery storm bringing in sleet and freezing rain converged on the Atlanta airport that stacked up planes to be de-iced 50 deep. After sitting on the runway for almost 8 hours, we ran out of both food, water and fuel and had to return to the gate. With no hopes in us leaving that night, we were bused to local hotels at 3am to catch some sleep before the flight the next day.

17 Jan: Awake from a short nap, we were bused back to the airport by 11am to wait for the flight out. We boarded the plane mid afternoon and began the second leg of our air voyage.

18 Jan: Ireland was suppose to be a short stop to only refuel and let us stretch our legs, but when they didn’t let us back onto the plane after our hour break, we knew something was up. Mechanical problems on the plane were not fixed as fast as they thought so once again we were packed onto a tour bus and brought to a nearby hotel. Ireland is a very pretty country I’ve been told, but we didn’t get to see much as it was cloudy and rainy. Plus we were not allowed out of the terminal or the hotel to do any sightseeing. At the hotel we were fed (potatoes of course) and given a bed to wait until our trip out the next day.

19 Jan: Tired from the travel and the changing time zones, we left the hotel around noon to try our luck again. We boarded the plane, pushed away from the gate, and headed for the runway, only to abruptly stop and pull back toward the terminal. Seemed we left someone at the hotel. Oops. So, to ensure we didn’t leave anyone else, we emptied the plane onto the tarmac and had a formation in the rain to get accountability. This delayed the flight by another 2 hours that we had not planned.

20 Jan: After 6 hours of flying, we arrived in Kuwait in the wee hours of the morning. We stood in formations, sat through briefings, retrieved our much missed body armor and helmets and were loaded up by mid afternoon to catch the military flight to Iraq. This was by far the simplest portion of the trip and the shortest stop. We arrived in Baghdad in time for lunch and the wait for the ground shuttle to the IZ. Did I mention that I would be sharing this trip with a large Air Force unit? Normally not an issue, but it would result in more delays.

21 Jan: We loaded up the vehicles and moved out after midnight and made it to the IZ. We could not leave the staging area until we unloaded all of our bags for inspection. After moving what felt like the luggage of entire Air Force, we were release from the yard. I got back to my trailer around 5am this morning.

So, what normally takes 3 days of travel turned into just shy of a week of movement. I'm not complaining because despite all of the delays, it really didn’t bother me to stall my return to Iraq. It still smells like garbage here and I didn’t miss wearing my body armor one bit. In the two weeks I was home I almost forgot the sound of helicopters. I have about 11 weeks to go before I get to go home for good. I can’t wait.

My leave was good, and I’ll try and muster up some pictures and details of what I did when I can. In the meantime I’ll try to get back into the groove of being here.