Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at 0400 - Tuesday
Well, it is very early in the morning here and I am a tired boy at this point. Our flight, originally scheduled to land in Dubai early, landed about 40 minutes late due to excessive air traffic. Our luggage took awhile to be unloaded and transferred to baggage claim. I also learned that I can in fact stay in the departure terminal, but since I had a checked bag again, I still had to exit. This last piece also precludes me from entering the departure terminal until three hours before the flight. So, lesson learned, possibly a second time, travel as light and possible and do not leave the terminal secured area in Dubai unless you are staying in a hotel. Seriously though, this is just standard and routine stuff, life is a whole lot worse and more complicated for everyone else - and I am certainly not complaining, just relaying.
I realized earlier that I will get a bed to sleep in tonight, albeit for a shorter time than I'd like, but a real bed, with sheets and a blanket too! The bunk room at the USACE Compound on Kandahar Airfield (KAF) is often a little crowded, but you'd never know it if you had been traveling for nearly 36 - 48 hours and were tired to the core. Anything resembling sleep at this point sounds luxurious.
One of my buddies, Jason Stuart, from Devils Lake, North Dakota, and also with the US Army Corps of Engineers, is trying to meet me at KAF this afternoon. If successful, we'll head to the "Boardwalk," which is KAF's little slice of Western Civilization and has a few restaurants and a lot of shopping. It will be swell to catch up with my old mate from the cold, cold north here in the winter of Afghanistan, and ironic now that I think of it in this way.
I checked in with Washington and learned that my son is taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon. I guess he is still plain worn out. His momma said he mentioned missing and loving his daddy a few times, which of course feels both good and sad - but sad in a good way.
143, Kaesen.
Good night and good day.
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