16-17 October 2007: Flying back to Kuwait

I don’t believe in the saying “all good things must end.” However, R&R did run its course. Going back after leave was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was harder than leaving at the beginning of deployment. Originally, my flight out of Providence was supposed to be at 0700. Fortunately, it changed to 1230. Flying back was the reverse of coming home. I flew to Atlanta, then to Kuwait, and then on to Balad. I was amazed at how efficient the return flights went. When I arrived in Atlanta I simply checked in with the R&R return desk. They had me on a manifest already. I had expected to wait for hours in the airport. It turned out to be a short wait. I saw most of the same faces I had seen coming home. Nobody seemed depressed or in a state of shock. By the same token, there wasn’t much talking. Some of the Joes had family with them to send them off.

A pleasant surprise awaited some of us on the R&R plane. On flights like these, the front section of the aircraft is always reserved for higher ranking personnel (LTC and above for officers; MSG and above for enlisted). Normally the seats are no different than coach. However, on this flight we had an actual first class section. I had a big leather reclining seat that had about twenty settings. There was a fold out flat screen TV and other neat comforts. The chair had a “sleep” setting. That’s where mine remained for the majority of the flight. We were in the air around 16 hours. I was asleep for about 12 of them. The plane left Atlanta around 2000. We stopped in Leipzig for fuel. We arrived in Kuwait around 1900 on the 17th. I was assigned a tent and told that my role call for the flight to Balad was the next morning at 0300. In the space of about 30 hours I went from my relaxed comfort of leave back to the regimen of military life.