Day 366 back in the states
wow I do beleive the last blog I wrote was back in Oct when I was on R&R in Qatar. A lot has happened as I went back home on two weeks leave. That was a wonderfull time that I spent with my family. We travel around the state just relaxing and enjoying the time together. We stoped in Watford City for Thanksgiving with Mom and Mick, Judy was also there so it was nice to see everyone again. After returning to Iraq the realities of that environment kicked right back in. I must admit that Dec, Jan and Feb did go by rather fast which I am thankfull for. The day did finaly arive when it was time for us to leave Basra. there was quite a celebration for us. We recieved a Corps of Engineer flag and other awards. The cooks at Basra made us a last supper that consisted of steak and lobster with the finest china available along with some wine glases and some tasty grape juice. there are about a total of Fifty workers in our camp and all of them showed up to say good by and shake our hands. The Gurkha guards also hussled to carry and load our bags for us and then all lined up at the gate and saluted us as we drove off. It is definetly a nice feeling to know those people were thankfull for what we have done. One part of me was never so glad to get away from the constant rocket attacks and head home to my family but yet I also had mixed feelings of missing the day to day challenges and some of the people I have become close to on our little camp on the air station. I know Ryan, Painter and Randy are three people I miss and will never foget.
The flight from Basra to Tallil as the first leg of the trip home turned into a nightmare. We ended up flying from Basra to Balad to Baghdad and back down to Tallil. Five hours on a C-130 is zero fun. Once in Tallil we had a day of out processing which ended in a fairwell ceremony for us were we were presented our awards. I did recieve the Bronze Star which was a nice thank you for the work done over the last year. Of course it would not be complete with out one more rocket attack the next morning. That afternoon we started the next leg of our trip which was a flight from Tallil to Kuwait. Once again the flight was delayed as a sand storm came through so the plane could not land and we had to wait for the next flight which was ninteen hours later so there we were on the flight line waiting the time out. Durring this long wait I watched the three soldiers that were killed in the rocket attack that morning two blocks away from us being loaded in a C-130 headed to the states, I just cant explain how disturbing that is or the feeling one has, nor can anyone even imagine untill they have expienced it. We finaly landed in Kuwait were we spent three days waiting for our turn to go through customs and fly to the states. Oh and if you ever get the chance to fly on a plane for nine hours non stop DONT. We touched down at Cherry point North Carolina to drop off a company of 120 Marines and then back in the air headed for Indiana. After ariving in Indiana the welcome commity consisting of General Spry and others from North Dakota greeted us. that was nice to see them and they had coffee and food set up for us. We then traveled by bus for an hour to Camp Atterbury were the rest of the North Dakota crew was waiting for us, they had our billits secured and the beds already made for us as it was aroud two in the morning by time we got to Camp Atterbury. We arrived in Indiana on the 16th of March and are scheduled to fly to Bismarck on the 21st. Durring the time here so far it has not stopped raining. The Demob proccess did go fairly smooth and quick. Now I am about a day and a half away from reuniting with my family after servining in Iraq for a year. I cant wait as I miss them so much.