In Transit

So we've finished most of the traveling.  We're at the last stop before we hit Afghanistan, the Air Force-run transit station in.....well lets just say its one of those other countries that ends in -stan where they like to speak Russian.  We're going to be here for a few days until theres a military flight thats going where we need to go, at which point we'll pack up, head onboard and fly into country.

This doesn't seem like a bad base to be stuck at for a while.  Its not too big, but its got just about everything you need to deal with the wait times.  Theres 2 lounges with Wi-Fi, phones to call home, mini movie theaters, X-Box/Playstation rooms, and pool tables; plus a bar type area with live music, food, and alcohol (only available if you're USAF stationed here).  The chow hall here is INSANE!  The first night we were here they were serving steak, shrimp, and lobster.  I spoke to one of the AF guys here and they have that at least once or twice a month.  The quality of the chow is great and its kind of ironic that I had to fly halfway around the world to get a decent meal and a somewhat comfortable bed.

Still getting used to the time difference.  For example I woke up here at about 0030 local and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I walked over to the nearer of the 2 MWR (MWR is the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation service for the military) centers.  As I got there and sat down with my laptop they turned on the TV to the Olympic gold medal hockey game.  No idea what time that came on back home but it was about 0130 here.  All I have to say about that is thank god there were no Canadian soldiers here or things might have been interesting.

I'm hoping to be able to relax for another day or so before we head into country.  Once I'm there I'll try to keep up with the posting here.  I set up my Skype to be able to call back to the States, so I may end up using that to make calls to everyone.

Talk to you all when I can!


NOTE: I'll be changing the time zone on the blog to match local time wherever I am.  Also I changed the date format to semi-match military date format