Jack_Crow
Enlightened
Hi all,
I'm safe on the ground in El Paso Texas.
Had a huge travel day yesterday.
We left Kuwait at about 02:00.
Arrived before dawn in Frankfort.
Killed about 7 hours there.
Got on a very full 747 for the ride to Denver.
10 hours on that machine in coach. Max discomfort.
Three hours on the ground in Denver, then onto the third flight of my 'day' for the ride to El Paso.
I can't begin to tell you some of the mental disconnects that have happened.
Exactly the kinds of things you warned me about.
It's hard to believe how nice a breakfast at Denney's can be. A meal the Army or an air line didn't provide. The personal contrast from a war zone to here is stunning. What I had grown used to as normal is now catching me short.
An Example.
In a war zone, when buildings shake, it's usually a bad thing. Fortunately I didn't 'hit the floor'.
In Denver Int. I was able to hook up with a ham radio friend who had relocated from New York. Sam looked much happier and saner than the last time we had talked in Huntington NY. Then again after so much travel shock, I was not (and still not) operating on all thrusters.
We are sitting at a little food court having something to drink, when I start to feel the floor twitch. "Sam, what the heck is that?" I say in a voice that causes others to look at me.
He says "what's what?"
I say "that floor it's vibrating and thumping".
That's when I learned there is an underground tram system in operation at the airport. For lack of a better term, battle reflex is a dam difficult thing to quash. I just hope nothing goes bang next to me for a while.
Other little things I've noticed......
I went to Denney's here for breakfast.
There was a cop parked outside the Denney's. A normal Texas cop. Bright colors, light bar, uniform and a badge.
After a year of MP's this was a major change.
It wasn't an up armor Humvee with a 50 cal on it. Red white and blue bright colors. Not the greens or tans of the military.
That cop will never know it, but he did me a favor. A touch stone of what is real here. There are no unfriendly hajji's outside the wall trying to do a BDA on the last shelling.
The difference between civilized and barbarism. People respect the civilized cop. In Iraq, there are a lot of barbs.
After a year in the zone, you don't think the same way.
According to CNN a military convoy was hit with a car bomb. The sick part is it could have been the guys who I just spent a year with. I'm sick of hearing about trooper wounding and deaths.
The more bad guys we kill the better off the world is. No ninney soccer mom is ever going to change my mind about this.
The entire sense of normal is totally twisted.
It's going to be a while to adapt back to this world.
I nearly blew every stop sign at the air port. I got used to driving on the base and on my trip to Babylon. Stopping meant a chance of ambush. Here is civilized transportation.
Got some plans for the day. The company rep is going to hook up with my travel partner 'Crazy John' and I. (He was the one barking at the sun in Iraq)
Going to look up some ham radio repeaters here in El Paso and play radio for a while.
Do some web stuff, but the Subguns note came first.
Guys,
Thanks for keeping me sane, will plug back in soon.
Later
I'm safe on the ground in El Paso Texas.
Had a huge travel day yesterday.
We left Kuwait at about 02:00.
Arrived before dawn in Frankfort.
Killed about 7 hours there.
Got on a very full 747 for the ride to Denver.
10 hours on that machine in coach. Max discomfort.
Three hours on the ground in Denver, then onto the third flight of my 'day' for the ride to El Paso.
I can't begin to tell you some of the mental disconnects that have happened.
Exactly the kinds of things you warned me about.
It's hard to believe how nice a breakfast at Denney's can be. A meal the Army or an air line didn't provide. The personal contrast from a war zone to here is stunning. What I had grown used to as normal is now catching me short.
An Example.
In a war zone, when buildings shake, it's usually a bad thing. Fortunately I didn't 'hit the floor'.
In Denver Int. I was able to hook up with a ham radio friend who had relocated from New York. Sam looked much happier and saner than the last time we had talked in Huntington NY. Then again after so much travel shock, I was not (and still not) operating on all thrusters.
We are sitting at a little food court having something to drink, when I start to feel the floor twitch. "Sam, what the heck is that?" I say in a voice that causes others to look at me.
He says "what's what?"
I say "that floor it's vibrating and thumping".
That's when I learned there is an underground tram system in operation at the airport. For lack of a better term, battle reflex is a dam difficult thing to quash. I just hope nothing goes bang next to me for a while.
Other little things I've noticed......
I went to Denney's here for breakfast.
There was a cop parked outside the Denney's. A normal Texas cop. Bright colors, light bar, uniform and a badge.
After a year of MP's this was a major change.
It wasn't an up armor Humvee with a 50 cal on it. Red white and blue bright colors. Not the greens or tans of the military.
That cop will never know it, but he did me a favor. A touch stone of what is real here. There are no unfriendly hajji's outside the wall trying to do a BDA on the last shelling.
The difference between civilized and barbarism. People respect the civilized cop. In Iraq, there are a lot of barbs.
After a year in the zone, you don't think the same way.
According to CNN a military convoy was hit with a car bomb. The sick part is it could have been the guys who I just spent a year with. I'm sick of hearing about trooper wounding and deaths.
The more bad guys we kill the better off the world is. No ninney soccer mom is ever going to change my mind about this.
The entire sense of normal is totally twisted.
It's going to be a while to adapt back to this world.
I nearly blew every stop sign at the air port. I got used to driving on the base and on my trip to Babylon. Stopping meant a chance of ambush. Here is civilized transportation.
Got some plans for the day. The company rep is going to hook up with my travel partner 'Crazy John' and I. (He was the one barking at the sun in Iraq)
Going to look up some ham radio repeaters here in El Paso and play radio for a while.
Do some web stuff, but the Subguns note came first.
Guys,
Thanks for keeping me sane, will plug back in soon.
Later
