This is an older photo but one I thought was a good one to end on. We had landed somewhere in the desert and I found a sage plant so I broke off a piece to take home with me. It's always nice to find those little things that link your present to your past. It's good to be home. Until next time - take care.

This is Brian and Tony hanging out in Bangor Maine waiting for our final leg back to Alaska. The people there were really nice - they had a big group there to meet us and hand out free cell phones and snacks.

These are some of the huge houses on the outskirts of the city. They are built in big development sections like a Kuwaiti version of our suburbs. I haven't figured out if they are single family or not. They appear way too big but there are a lot of wealthy people here.

This is Adkins, Sutton, Navy customs guy, and Tomlinson (L-R) relaxing before the final loading of the aircraft.

This is Barneby and Sena after a long hot day at the port. You can just see the blades from both aircraft stacked along either side of the cabin.

This is Geda at the port with some of our stuff we downloaded off the aircraft. We had to take everything off then load the blades, have customs inspect everything and put it all back on.

This is an aerial view of Kuwait City as we are heading into the port. The rest of Kuwait is pretty much open desert with scattered houses. As far as population goes - the city is basically the country.

This is me sitting on the ramp. You can see the harness I am wearing and the tail off the back hooks into a ring on the aircraft floor. The ramp is by far the best seat in the house and I sit back there any chance I get. Sena and I had a great time - it was actually more fun than flying (at least for small doses :)

This is Sena - one of our FEs. We are in southern Iraq on the way to Kuwait - there isn't a whole lot out there except scrub brush and sand.

5 Aug

The only thing left is a couple days of waiting and a long flight home. I flew out with our last two aircraft on the morning of the 1st just ahead of a dust storm. We got to work at 3AM in order to launch as soon as it was light enough to see. We departed at 5:15 and later learned that 10 minutes after we left the airfield visibility went to ½ mile. I was so glad we made it out of there – it is such an ordeal to get everything packed up that not leaving is pretty demoralizing. The flight down to Kuwait was uneventful (I actually rode on the ramp, which was even more fun than flying). We stayed ahead of the dust and by the time we stopped in Talill for refuel the skies were clear. We landed at Udari a little after nine and unloaded our bags, stripped off the equipment that stays in country and moved the aircraft over to the wash racks. By that time it was 11 and the temp was 129 in the shade. My crew and the other pilots were all about eating, taking a nap and starting on the aircraft in the evening but Potter and his crew on 168 wanted to get started so they stayed out there. We didn’t get much sleep since the A/C in our tent wasn’t working right and it was over 90 inside but at least it was out of the sun. We went back down to the aircraft around 6 and started working – it was still 112. In order to pass customs every thing has to be stripped out of the aircraft and washed to include the entire aircraft – all the nook and crannies, hidden ledges, under the floor boards - everything. As you can imagine after 13 months of living in the dust they collect a lot of dirt and it’s mixed with oil and hydraulic fluid but you can’t use anything but water – no soaps for environmental reasons. I spent the first hour on my back under the aircraft with a pressure washer. Once I was completely soaked with dirty water it wasn’t bad. The pilots worked until about 1AM and the crews stayed there all night – sleeping on the floor or in cots in a small break room. At nine the next morning we had our initial inspection and they pointed out all the areas we missed so we cleaned for another four hours and passed the second time. The crew members had the aircraft put back together by five PM – it was a couple of long hot days. The next morning we flew down to the port. We landed there at 11 and over the next 5 ½ hours we stripped the blades off and loaded them inside, had customs inspect all our gear then loaded the aircraft back up so they were ready for shipment – it was only 118 at the port. After eating we got back to our tents at 9PM. Yesterday was nice – I did almost nothing. The main body arrived last night so now we are packed in like sardines but it is only for a couple of days. It’s hard to believe it is almost over. We met some of the guys in the Blackhawk unit from our Battalion in Alaska – they are in Udari getting ready to head north. It’s sure starting to feel like a cycle.
Clear H 110 L 88