And we’ll meet you at the station… Okay, so it’s not last train to Clarkston, but given the long hours it’s the best I can do.
I left the other day with two hours on a shuttle bus down to Indianapolis, then an hour plus on a puddle jumper, then trans-Atlantic to Frankfurt, then a final leg down to Kuwait. I discovered that in getting older, coach seats get worse and I think a tender portion of my anatomy was bruised at the end. The hotel was nice, and I had one of the best night’s sleep in a long time, most of it face down.
After a night’s rest, I flew out on Gryphon Air (link added later, I hope) to Baghdad International, or rather BIAP, the military side of things. An excellent flight and I highly recommend the service for those who want to get in and out quick and without the usual. One of the people meeting us on the flight line was someone I will call Capt. Safe: he helped make sure we stayed safe on an active flight line; and, he also made sure I was safe and gave me a ride on the first part of my journey to CPIC to get credentialled (sp?). I then waited a bit and took a Rhino ride, that is a ride in an armored vehicle into the International Zone.
Once there, I was met by representatives of CPIC who brought me on in and were kind enough to offer me a bed for the night. A few very short hours later, and I was back up, had my credentials, and some coffee. All was right with my world. I have to say a lot of nice things about the day shift at CPIC, as they have been very helpful, to put it mildly.
The only fly in the ointment so far is that it appears the power adapter for the laptop is dead. Not sure why or how, it was working fine in Kuwait just 24-hours ago. I will trouble shoot and see what can be done, but figure that type of adapter is going to be hard to find here. Meantime, I am going to get creative, and continue to get something out. So long as the owner of the computer doesn’t come back, all is golden. 
I really do hope to do this more justice later, as the ride in from start to finish is something to share. Coming in at night, southern Iraq reminded me of the Tennesse Valley from the air at night, with a string of cities along the river, lit up. The oil fields were visible with gas flares and such, reminding me I wasn’t home.
Stay tuned, there is more to come.
LW
