The previous day and this morning there was a huge flurry of activity among the Joes living at Hotel California. There was an awards ceremony for their unit today to recognize their deployment. It wasn't just that it was an awards ceremony - LTG Odierno (MNC-I Commander) and a Marine Major General (MND-W) were going to be present for the ceremony. As a result, the Joes were out scrubbing their equipment, cleaning the area, and rehearsing for the ceremony. It made my team's job difficult because we weren't able to get people to assist us with container inspections. I instructed my team to "clear the AO" during the awards ceremony. We didn't need to be included because the ceremony wasn't for us. Just before noon the stars fell upon us. That means the generals arrived. A huge entourage of vehicles screamed across TQ to the airfield to pick them up. The unit started forming up for the big ceremony. My team and I left for the chow hall.
Around 1430 we cruised back over to Hotel California. The generals were gone, the ceremony long over. As sense of order descended back onto the unit. We were finally able to finish up our work. I guess it was about 1630 when we completed everything. Even though the unit was extremely gracious, we beat feet over to the airfield to see about a flight out. TQ is a pretty crappy place. My team isn't a bunch of tourists. When our work is done it's time to move on. The good news that greeted us was that there were flights back to Liberty. The bad news was that we were space A and low on the list.
Regardless of space A or not, we waited and hoped for the best. Around 2130 we geared up and walked out to the flightline. About twenty minutes later a couple of Marine CH-46 Sea Knights touched down. These are cargo helicopters that resemble miniature CH-47s. As we sat and shivered, the personnel who were manifested boarded the aircraft. Much to our chagrin, the helicopters then took off - leaving us in the quiet, cold field to ponder our fate. After standing there with our thumbs up our collective asses for another thirty minutes, the Marines running the flightline walked us back to the pax terminal and explained that we would have to come back in the morning. In the meantime, we were to walk to the transient billets. It wasn't as bad as it seemed. The billets were only about 200 meters away. It did suck, though, to be stuck another night in TQ.
We checked into transient billets. My team was assigned a heated tent filled with bunk beds. I was assigned to the "VIP" area. It was VIP in name only. The place was another tent. The only difference was that it had single beds instead of bunks. When I walked in I was met with a chorus of snores and darkness. Breaking out my flashlight, I made my way down to an open bunk. A couple of farts rang out. I picked the only bunk that didn't seem to be next to someone snoring. Boy was I wrong. Once I was finally in the prone position I fell asleep. An hour later I was rousted from my sleep by an industrial saw mill. It was the guy next to me. I exclaimed out loud, "That's a fuckin' no-go." Then I kicked his bed to make him stop. He did, but only for a short time. That was the pattern of the rest of the night.
Around 1430 we cruised back over to Hotel California. The generals were gone, the ceremony long over. As sense of order descended back onto the unit. We were finally able to finish up our work. I guess it was about 1630 when we completed everything. Even though the unit was extremely gracious, we beat feet over to the airfield to see about a flight out. TQ is a pretty crappy place. My team isn't a bunch of tourists. When our work is done it's time to move on. The good news that greeted us was that there were flights back to Liberty. The bad news was that we were space A and low on the list.
Regardless of space A or not, we waited and hoped for the best. Around 2130 we geared up and walked out to the flightline. About twenty minutes later a couple of Marine CH-46 Sea Knights touched down. These are cargo helicopters that resemble miniature CH-47s. As we sat and shivered, the personnel who were manifested boarded the aircraft. Much to our chagrin, the helicopters then took off - leaving us in the quiet, cold field to ponder our fate. After standing there with our thumbs up our collective asses for another thirty minutes, the Marines running the flightline walked us back to the pax terminal and explained that we would have to come back in the morning. In the meantime, we were to walk to the transient billets. It wasn't as bad as it seemed. The billets were only about 200 meters away. It did suck, though, to be stuck another night in TQ.
We checked into transient billets. My team was assigned a heated tent filled with bunk beds. I was assigned to the "VIP" area. It was VIP in name only. The place was another tent. The only difference was that it had single beds instead of bunks. When I walked in I was met with a chorus of snores and darkness. Breaking out my flashlight, I made my way down to an open bunk. A couple of farts rang out. I picked the only bunk that didn't seem to be next to someone snoring. Boy was I wrong. Once I was finally in the prone position I fell asleep. An hour later I was rousted from my sleep by an industrial saw mill. It was the guy next to me. I exclaimed out loud, "That's a fuckin' no-go." Then I kicked his bed to make him stop. He did, but only for a short time. That was the pattern of the rest of the night.
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