I believe I failed to mention that BIAP now has upgraded its pax terminal. There are new buildings for inbound and outbound. Surrounding the buildings are tents that house an internet cafe, a PX outlet, and overflow tents for waiting passengers. The big concrete pads with aluminum roofs that used to serve as the pax area are still there. There's just better facilities for everyone. It's still a dirty work in progress.
Why am I telling you all of this? I had to fly back to Balad today. The last two members of my team that were working in Taji had a flight back the same day. It was time for them to clear their hand receipts in Balad and return to Kuwait to begin the process of getting ready for redeployment. Having had deployment plaques made for everyone on my team, I needed to make certain they received theirs. It also allowed me to thank them personally for their hard work. So at 0900 I rode over to BIAP to catch a C130 back to Balad. The flight was fast and uneventful. I arrived at the new Balad pax terminal about 1030.
I found my office a shambles. Apparently, the unit that hosts my team had decided - without telling me - to take away half of our office space. It meant we now had to make due with one-half what we started with. There was shit stacked everywhere. I had two computers on my desk. It was hard to just find a clear path to walk from the door to the desk. I didn't have time to worry about it though. I needed to update my mission books. It has been over 70 days and multiple missions so that added up to a lot of updating. I worked all afternoon and into the evening.
I also returned to find my hooch with electrical problems. The lights and AC still worked. However, my electrical outlets didn't. This was bad because my mini-fridge had defrosted. It was dank, moldy, and stinky. The drip pan under the freezer was full of scummy water. I reported the problem to the billeting office. They couldn't promise me it would get fixed any time soon. I double checked the breaker box. Whatever the problem was, it wasn't a fuse. I went ahead and cleaned the fridge, dusted, and swept. The bathroom was a shambles too. My old neighbor had moved but hadn't notified housing. That meant nobody came to clean after his departure. I didn't mess with his old room (it wasn't locked). I did clean the crud out of the shower and sink.
About 2030, I drove over to Catfish Air to meet my two personnel flying in from Taji. I arrived just in time. It was below freezing so I bought them both a hot chocolate from Green Beans. We loaded all their gear on the truck and drove back by the office to drop it off. They also wanted to use the phones and internet. I gave them their plaques. We laughed over a few stories from their mission in Taji. It's easy to relate since we've all been there. After about an hour in the office, I took them back to their respective hooches. I thanked them again and drove back to my place.
Once back in the hooch, I took a long shower. Then I repacked my ruck. Lights out was 2330. It was a quick strike on Balad. I believe I took care of everything I needed to do. LSA Anaconda hasn't changed any.
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