Extreme Sleep-Deprivation

Monday morning we left the hotel for the Frankfurt airport. Me Devin and Becca all arrived to Mannheim the same weekend and left the same day. We first flew to Istanbul where we had a six hour layover. This is not a slight against Turkey - just a commentary on social norms and how they vary between cultures - but Turkey and the central asian countries I don't think have mastered the art of personal hygiene as we know it in the Western World.

I do most of my luggage shopping at the Samsonite store in the Istanbul airport.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines has the best airline food I've ever eaten! We had two meals one on the way to Istanbul, and another between Istanbul and Bishkek. We got to Bishkek Tuesday morning, and followed our instructions to NOT USE OUR PASSPORTS but instead call from the specially designated phone a certain number for NATO people to come pick us up. Which we did, and then they did. I was under the impression that Manas NATO base was a ways away from Bishkek airport when in fact - it IS Bishkek airport in large part.

The entrance to the base is off of the tarmac of the airport. In the base are lots of tents and a big supply room and some things there for solders' welfare. Everything you'd expect of a transient base (one that's meant for large numbers of people going this way or that). It felt like Casablanca there. There's the "terminal" building where people waiting for "Space A" (A is for Available) on a flight and all there is to do is wait. After already having been traveling for 24 hours, the following 12 or so weren't a blast trying to stay awake.

My two travel companions left on an earlier flight in the day, and so I was struggling to stay awake by myself for most of the day. Not that exact times would matter to you, but I'm not able to share the times of the flights out of Manas because the information is usable by enemies and could compromise the safety of the flights. Interesting stuff, huh?

The giant waiting room once you've found space-a on a flight has lots of benches and a giant projector screen on which they show movies for the 3 hour waiting period before the flight heads out. They were showing Bad Boys for Becca and Devin's flight (I waited with them), and The Green Mile for my flight.

Finally we were called to the flight. We were bused out to the airstrip where I saw the C-17 Globemaster for the first time. I don't know what I was envisioning before that point, but I wasn't expecting to see this:

A C-17 Globemaster

We crammed ourselves into the cargo area via the loading ramp just as these soldiers are cramming this helicopter into a similar cargo area.

Oh no big deal - just putting this HELICOPTER inside that PLANE!

We weren't allowed to take pictures of our own, but this is what it looked like inside the plane (with a few less soldiers than this)

I was in one of the side seats facing in, basically right where the guy all the way on the left is sitting.

By this time I was in and out of sleep and waking up with pains in my neck. We touched down about 3 or so hours later in Kandahar.

I made it!

Goodbye Germany: A Guide to Sending Josh Kramer Things Through the US Postal Service

After three weeks in Germany it looks as though I'll be deploying on Monday. I have my itinerary, orders, and all of the documentation/immunization I'll need for my six months "downrange". My itinerary includes flying Turkish Airways to Istanbul, then Turkish Airways again to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. From there I will be hitching a car ride to the Manas NATO base outside of Bishkek. There I'll wait for a spot on a flight to my FOB (Forward Operating Base). I'll also be picking up my kevlar vest and helmet there. 

From what I've heard the Kevlar is the reason we even go to Manas at all, and that for most people, their kevlar gear gathers dust underneath beds or in lockers, but thems the rules. We've got to pick it up in Kyrgyzstan - besides, afterwards I can say I've been to Kyrgyzstan!

Should you care to mail anything to me downrange - please do so. The address can be found below.

Kandahar Education Center
Attn: CTC, Joshua Kramer
APO, AE 09355

It costs the same to send something to Kandahar as it does to send something from anywhere in the US to New York! So it's really reasonable! I'm also told that it takes a relatively short time for mail to get there, but much longer to get back. Also, spend the extra dollar or so and make it priority - apparently the difference is really noticeable in terms of arrival time. Mail breaks up the monotony over there so PLEASE feel free to send me stuff (letters, packages, anything at all).

It's a balmy 120 degrees in Kandahar this time of year and they're not quite over the hump of the summer heat yet (good thing my six months didn't start in May or something, then I'd melt).

I wanted to create an Indiana Jones-esque montage of my plane flying from Frankfurt to Istanbul to Bishkek to Kandahar with a little red dotted line trailing behind the map that my plane is super-imposed over, but apparently that takes some sort of skill. So just pretend I did it.