In Transit

30 December 2010


We arrived in Al Udeid, Quatar somewhere around 0100-0200. It’s all a blur. Al Udeid is referred to as “the deed”, IUD, or cutter. It only took me four months working the info controller desk to realize when people said cutter, they were referring to Quatar. IUD is the three letter code like LAX, so that was an easy one.

The flight over wasn’t bad. I was in the middle row which had four seats and there were only two of us. I caught a cat nap, but I haven’t had a good sleep since I last slept at home. It’s been little naps for about 6 days now. I thought I would sleep in Ramstein, but I clock watched all night thinking I would sleep through the alarm and be late for my pax call.

When I stepped off the plane, it was an instant flashback. I felt like I had just been here. When our group went to Bagram on the last deployment, we also processed through IUD. The smells, the feel, it was all exactly the same. We processed in, went through customs, PERSCO (kind of like human resources), were issued our body armor, first aid kits and a bag of crap Ill never use. We have the new individual body armor (IBA) which is different from last time and weighs about 35lbs. When wearing it and the helmet, you feel like a turtle when sitting, the only thing you can move are your arms and legs. After processing we were issued our linens and assigned a bunk in one of the tents. It was way past 0500 by this point and we headed to the row of transient tents. Mind you our PAX call back in Ramstein was 0900 the day before. Having been here before, most of us knew the layout and helped the others. It was amazing how it all came back. It felt like it had only been days since I was last here.

A few people slept, but all of us girls headed to the chow hall and took care of some errands. We went to finance and loaded up our Eagle Cash cards, equivalent to a debit card. If you didn’t bring cash with you, it’s hard to get. There is a set withdrawal of $100/month in US currency at Finance. If you do pay in cash the change you receive is in paper pogs- round cardboard disks printed with the $ amount and only redeemable at AFFEES. The moral of the story is to load your Eagle Cash. After that we headed to the PX for those last minute articles we couldn’t live without. Plus, it was the only form of entertainment available.

We pooled our laundry together and did a last minute load. IUD is a supply staging area and we could be here anywhere from 1-3 days. After we first landed, our luggage was stored and we didn’t have access to it. We are instructed to pack a separate bag to last us 72 hours and you never know when you might get clean clothes.

We still hadn’t slept and I think our bodies were well past the wall of exhaustion. Our minds were still going a mile a minute and our bodies were just on auto-pilot.

After another run to the chow hall we waited for our 2030 meeting with the troop commander. This meeting would tell us we either had a flight or not. If we didn’t, we would meet again at 2030 the next day and keep our fingers crossed. We lucked out and had a flight out, but our show time to process out was 0430. That left us 8 hours. We headed to “the bra” to enjoy our three beers or cocktails and hopefully connect to the internet. That was a nice change from last time as they had raised the ration card from 2 to 3 drinks in a 24 hour period. The canopy covering the recreation area looks like a circus canopy with two high points, hence the name “the bra.”

I ordered my beers and settled in, but it was all catching up to me. I barely finished two and headed to my tent. I tried to sleep for a few hours, but mainly tossed and turned. I had the privilege of having a bunk at the front of the tent next to the door. Every time it opened light would shine in my eyes. I hung a towel to block some of the light but well…. Ya, plus the noise and blast of cold air with every door swing. By 0230 I was up and packing my bags.

We processed out, grabbed our IBA/helmet and loaded up. We were on a C-130 looking at a 2 hour flight. Not bad.

As we were flying over the Persian Gulf, I looked out the rear windows and saw my last look at the ocean. There was nothing, but desert and ocean. The water was peaceful and beautiful. At some point we must have hit an oil rich area of the ocean floor; for miles there were oil platforms scattered over the ocean. Every so often a port would appear with a long pier and a bunch of buildings. These ports were isolated and it didn’t appear to have a town or anything, just desert surrounding it. I assume these are processing plants of some kind and maybe the oil is shipped from here after its delivered from the oil platforms. Its just a guess on my part, but I do know, they don’t have a California Coastal Commission to worry about.

We landed in Baghdad, did more in processing and met our counterparts. My shift was currently working and after I dropped my bags in my CHU (containable housing unit) I went to work. MSgt Scotty Brown took it easy on me and gave me a quick low down and then sent me home for some sleep.