Hello everyone!
As many of you already know, my unit is finally out of North Fort Hoos. Even with our current living conditions (more on that later) every single one of us is grateful for being out of "prison camp." It was a long trip over, but in many ways it's good to be here.
Now because of "OPSEC" or Operational Security, I can't give many details about our trip, but I will share what I can.
We left Ft. Hood a few hours after the sun went down and started working our way East. We had one stop along the east coast and then we set out to cross the Atlantic. Sunrise came a few hours into our trip across the pond, but it was too cloudy to see anything.
Our longest stretch of the trip ended in Germany.
Throughout the trip we were guided into the passenger terminals, however, we never really interacted with anyone else. They kept us seperated to both protect us, and to protect other passengers. We made a pretty big target for a hasty attack by groups that are anti-US, so none of us really complained.
At each of our stops were walls with stickers and patches from units that had passed through. A lot of you may not realize this, but my company recently hired a talented graphic designer (our own Alex) to design our patch. Luckily for us, we just got our patches a few days before we left. Needless to say, we donated a few patches to the walls.
However, the stickers turned out to be the most entertaining. I saw them everywhere, from bathroom stalls to windows, to mirrors and even one on the side of the plane. I think it's safe to say the world knows where Delta Company 1-108 Aviation has been.
As we got back on the plan for our final leg, the sun was setting in the German sky. Now if you notice the time stamp in the picture below, and compare it to the one earlier on, you will notice we experiences a total of 6 hours of daylight. That's one of the many joys of traveling east.
After the two hour bus ride to our camp, we went through an in-brief and then made our way to our new home. Now, remember earlier when I mentioned that everyone of us was greatful we were no longer at Ft. Hood? As we walked through the doors to our "circus tent" we now call home, and saw the cots that are now our beds, the only thing I heard said was, "At least it's not Hood."
If you haven't been able t tell, our experience there was about as close to living in a nightmare as you can get. Anyway, being the highest ranking individual in the tent has it's perks. I was able to secure a corner, another broken cot, some para-cord and some duct tape. After working a little magic (I'm not sure if it's the red-neck, McGuiver, or SERE school that came out in me) I built a room. In my room I have a clothes line, as well as a closet to hang my flight gear and even shelves. I also got a shower curtain that provides both as a sliding door, and an underwater seascape with dolphins to help me feel like I'm snorkeling when I close myself in at night.
So, 27 hours after we loaded busses we had lost 36 hours of our lives, traveled half way around the world and established our lives in the place we will be staying for the foreseeable future. It may not be much, but it's more than enough for us to get the job done.
We are in the location where most units are passing through on their way home from Iraq. So hopefully after Dec. 31, it will be a little less crowded. We should be able to spread out, and maybe even acquire some beds. Speaking of bed, it has now been 54 hours since I have seen any real sleep. I've had a few 30 minute cat naps to total up to about 3 hours to get me by. That being said, I probably ought to go to bed.
I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers for both me and my guys. It's incredibly helpful to have support back home as we go through this experience. Which brings me to the most important thing I can say in this post.
Please, please, please, pray for the families that are back home. Their sacrifice is often overlookd. A deployment is often harder on the family of the soldier than it is on the soldiers themselves. We go to work every day and do our job. We are participating in the news stories that loved ones have to watch. They deserve to be recognized as heroes for what they do I count myself as one of the luckiest individuals here for the support I have back home. Alex is one of the strongest wives in the unit, and is a key leader among those ladies. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers too.
Thank you again for all of your support!
Until next time,
Nate
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