The Club Med of the Middle East
02 Oct 2004
Passenger Terminal, Al Udeid AB, Quatar
0130 hrs
I’ve made a few friends without any difficulty so far, so I feel like I can begin to discriminate. I think I’ll start with my three pre-pubescent, pigtailed trailer mates who couldn’t stop chattering despite my obvious attempts to pantomime sleep at them. After 20 minutes of repeatedly dozing off and being jerked awake by giggling, I gave up and decided to wait for my flight in the terminal, if the Quonset hut with a desk can be called that. The airports have become alarmingly smaller and more desolate with each leg of my journey since I left Florida. This is surely a sign of things to come.
It’s amazing how many MacDill folks I’ve run into since I left, not to mention Floridians in general. Three from Patrick, two from Hurlburt Field (including the cute captain I sat next to on the flight from Frankfurt to here), and a few from Eglin. I met a major from the 310th at Tampa International, a crew chief from ISO at the bus stop here tonight, and when our flight landed here in Al Udeid, the voice I heard booming a welcome through the plane was none other than our own former SP chief, Chief H. It was good to see him again. He kiddingly chastised me for not staying on at Al Udeid (oh, I only wish) and coined me while I stood in line to in process. Al Udeid is lucky to have him. I still miss his blustery cheerfulness at MacDill. I wonder if he has any idea the impression he left behind.
At 0200 hours, I know I should be tired, but since it’s only 1900 back home, I’m wide awake. Fortunately the guys accompanying me to my next stop are all friendly and willing to put up with my chattering. There are seven of us traveling on together – Tom, George, Mason, Swoop, Scott, Wyatt and me. I met Tom at the AMC terminal in Baltimore. He’s a Civil Engineering (CE) Readiness guy with a wife, a couple kids and a growing pet problem. It seems every time he returns from a trip, their pet menagerie has grown another member (the last time it was an insecure wiener dog). He’s been helping me out getting where I need to go and knowing what I need to do. As much as I am always prepared to go it alone, it’s always a pleasant surprise when I find a stranger who’s willing to help.
Then I met George (rut-ro Rorge!) during the bag drag last night. I was facing a mountain of bags once again, and this time no cart to be had. The cute blonde 22-year-old next to me had three offers to carry her bags, but this unskinny, bespectacled brunette experienced no such relief until George took pity on me. I ran into him again on my way to the PAX terminal to check on my flight, and somewhere along the line we picked up Mason, a Senior Airman of some Middle Eastern ethnicity with a refreshing sense of generous chivalry. Sergeant Scott is another CE troop, a Tech who is almost as thin and brittle as the cigarette in his hand. Then there’s Swoope, a supply troop, and Wyatt, another CE guy.
We’ve been waiting for our flight for several hours now and doing our best to pass the time. I played Siberia for a while, a mystery game that’s spawned a new nickname I can add to my collection. When George asked what I was doing and I told him I was solving a mystery, he laughed and said, “I’ve suspected it for some time and that only confirms it.” I raised my eyebrows at him. He told me he’d suspected I was Velma, from Scooby Doo. At first I was a little offended (was it Baudelaire or Balzac who said that a woman doesn’t mind being called intelligent provided she is assured she’s still hot?), but when the guys all agreed that they always like Velma better (for my benefit? Who knows), I got over it and the nickname stuck. ‘Jinkies’ became the invective of the day.
Al Udeid is a nice base for being in the middle of the desert – nice dining facility, lots of air conditioning and hardened facilities – but I’m ready to get where I’m going and settle in.
Passenger Terminal, Al Udeid AB, Quatar
0130 hrs
I’ve made a few friends without any difficulty so far, so I feel like I can begin to discriminate. I think I’ll start with my three pre-pubescent, pigtailed trailer mates who couldn’t stop chattering despite my obvious attempts to pantomime sleep at them. After 20 minutes of repeatedly dozing off and being jerked awake by giggling, I gave up and decided to wait for my flight in the terminal, if the Quonset hut with a desk can be called that. The airports have become alarmingly smaller and more desolate with each leg of my journey since I left Florida. This is surely a sign of things to come.
It’s amazing how many MacDill folks I’ve run into since I left, not to mention Floridians in general. Three from Patrick, two from Hurlburt Field (including the cute captain I sat next to on the flight from Frankfurt to here), and a few from Eglin. I met a major from the 310th at Tampa International, a crew chief from ISO at the bus stop here tonight, and when our flight landed here in Al Udeid, the voice I heard booming a welcome through the plane was none other than our own former SP chief, Chief H. It was good to see him again. He kiddingly chastised me for not staying on at Al Udeid (oh, I only wish) and coined me while I stood in line to in process. Al Udeid is lucky to have him. I still miss his blustery cheerfulness at MacDill. I wonder if he has any idea the impression he left behind.
At 0200 hours, I know I should be tired, but since it’s only 1900 back home, I’m wide awake. Fortunately the guys accompanying me to my next stop are all friendly and willing to put up with my chattering. There are seven of us traveling on together – Tom, George, Mason, Swoop, Scott, Wyatt and me. I met Tom at the AMC terminal in Baltimore. He’s a Civil Engineering (CE) Readiness guy with a wife, a couple kids and a growing pet problem. It seems every time he returns from a trip, their pet menagerie has grown another member (the last time it was an insecure wiener dog). He’s been helping me out getting where I need to go and knowing what I need to do. As much as I am always prepared to go it alone, it’s always a pleasant surprise when I find a stranger who’s willing to help.
Then I met George (rut-ro Rorge!) during the bag drag last night. I was facing a mountain of bags once again, and this time no cart to be had. The cute blonde 22-year-old next to me had three offers to carry her bags, but this unskinny, bespectacled brunette experienced no such relief until George took pity on me. I ran into him again on my way to the PAX terminal to check on my flight, and somewhere along the line we picked up Mason, a Senior Airman of some Middle Eastern ethnicity with a refreshing sense of generous chivalry. Sergeant Scott is another CE troop, a Tech who is almost as thin and brittle as the cigarette in his hand. Then there’s Swoope, a supply troop, and Wyatt, another CE guy.
We’ve been waiting for our flight for several hours now and doing our best to pass the time. I played Siberia for a while, a mystery game that’s spawned a new nickname I can add to my collection. When George asked what I was doing and I told him I was solving a mystery, he laughed and said, “I’ve suspected it for some time and that only confirms it.” I raised my eyebrows at him. He told me he’d suspected I was Velma, from Scooby Doo. At first I was a little offended (was it Baudelaire or Balzac who said that a woman doesn’t mind being called intelligent provided she is assured she’s still hot?), but when the guys all agreed that they always like Velma better (for my benefit? Who knows), I got over it and the nickname stuck. ‘Jinkies’ became the invective of the day.
Al Udeid is a nice base for being in the middle of the desert – nice dining facility, lots of air conditioning and hardened facilities – but I’m ready to get where I’m going and settle in.
posted by Axis at 1:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home