Thursday, October 25, 2007

23 October 2007: Red-Eye Chinook to Balad

November is going to be a very busy month. For that reason, I’ve elected to return to Balad. It’s not for rest and relaxation though. I need to continue planning for the missions upcoming. I can’t effectively do that in Taji because I’m always having to borrow computers and phones. That can be a pain in the ass. I’ll be leaving part of my team here for a couple more days. In the meantime, I’ll fly back to Balad. Besides, the only thing I’m doing in Taji is getting more oil mud on my boots.

It didn’t take long to get back either. I hopped on a late night Chinook. The helicopter was completely full. It looked like most of the Joes were on their way to R&R. There are no fixed-wing aircraft flying through Taji so Joes leaving on R&R have to connect in either Balad or BIAP. That’s an extra day of travel that I’m thankful I didn’t have to contend with. For the flight I sat at the back of the aircraft looking out through the open ramp. Chinooks always fly with the ramp down because that’s where the crew chief man’s a machine gun. I wish my camera could record movies at night because the scene leaving Taji was awesome. We were the lead aircraft. The trail Chinook was surrealistically floating against the backdrop of ground lighting. I watched mesmerized for almost the entire flight. It was quite the impressive scene.

I was back at my Balad hooch around 0030. After unpacking I took a shower. I was in bed by around 0130. It will be a short visit.

No comments: