Wednesday December 14 ~ Things are starting to change!!

  Wow! So here we are five days into this thing, and time for a change of scenery.

  Today started out pretty normal - Coffee at the Green Beans, and then Nick and I were off to grab another Geocache that was in the area that I found on the Geocaching site. When we arrived at ground zero we ran into a problem.... This Cache was supposed to be under the steps we were looking at, but someone in the recent past boarded up the sides of the steps and trapped the Cache. Luckily there was a hole big enough for Nick to get his arm in, so he managed to reach in, open the container, and get the log out so that we could sign it. There were some Pathtags and a Geocoin inside the container, so we decided to rescue them since the Cache was pretty much trapped.

 Then it was breakfast, and off to the post office to mail off the purchases from yesterday.

 So it was now time to go check on flights, and we soon realized that we couldn't get to the PAX terminal.... Soldiers were blocking roads everywhere ~ This was going to be a problem. Come to find out that the  United States Secretary of Defense was getting ready to arrive, so until that fiasco was over we weren't going anywhere! Finally everything was back to normal, and we grabbed our bags and headed up to see if we could make the next flight. There were seven available seats, and about eighty people wanting them! We decided to hang out and see what was going to happen. There is a list system, and often people who have guaranteed seats also don't arrive. Anyway, one of the Units that was supposed to be on that flight didn't show up so they said we would make the flight.... Yes, a new destination!! We gathered up our gear, and then they had us go outside and wait for the C130 Cargo Plane to arrive.

  I'm unsure if that is actually the one we flew on, but it was one of the C130's from the North Carolina Air National Guard.
 So here is the scene ~ We are lined up outside (full IBA and Kevlar) waiting while they unload the plane. It is starting to get dark, below freezing, and the wind is blowing. After over an hour of standing there frozen, we hear that they may not have enough room for everyone.... WHAT?!?!?  They had started loading everyone, and had got almost everyone on the plane, but there was still a group of about twenty of us left. Even though they hadn't called us over to the plane we kept inching that way... I did not want to be left behind!! So the flight crew made a decision to do something that I had never seen before, but they were going to get us all on that plane and get us all out of Sharana. We get over to the plane, walk up the ramp and they tell us to make three lines on the floor from front facing the back. And I'm not talking spacious comfortable sit on the floor. Imagine when you was a kid and getting on a sled with your friends or siblings ~ One sits, the next one between their legs, the next between their legs, etc., etc., etc., - pretty much the full length of the plane!! We maybe could have fit 2 more people in there! Good thing the flight was only about forty minutes, because both my legs and my ass were full on asleep!

  Finally ~ Out of Sharana and now I have made it to BAF (Bagram Airfield).... Still in Afghanistan - WooHoo - Not!
 I had only been here a few minutes and I was already breaking the rules!

   That's right ~ there is nobody attending my bags ~ I am such a Rebel!!
 
  Well, I got picked up and got over to the compound. I got my own room (So Stoked), and they just put in new bathrooms about four weeks back. See, these are things that most people take for granted, and if you could have seen the bathrooms that were here for the past few years you would totally understand. Some of the little things really make a big difference here!
  I think it is time for sleep now, and I will try to get Thursday posted when I wake up. For those of you who are in the States - I am about twelve hours in the future. Thursday is a pretty average day, but I have some good pictures for your viewing pleasure.

  Thanks for all of your comments!

  HAVE A GREAT POSITIVE THURSDAY !! ~ Leo