It's been an amazing three days since our Honolulu departure! We took a commercial airline 747 to Oakland, CA (saw a great aerial view of San Francisco) - a 5 hour trip, then after a 2 hour re-fueling lay over, we hightailed it to JFK - another 5 hour trip. Then we layed over for three hours and took off for Shannon, Ireland - a 6 hour trip. We deboarded the plan in Ireland and a friendly Irish Woman with red hair greeted us in the finest Irish accent you'd ever want to hear, "G'd evening, welcome to Ireland" she said. After being tempted by several Irishmen who were drinking Guiness in the airport bar (we weren't aloud to drink), we departed for Germany, a 4 hour trip. It was there that I saw a blast from the past.
When my best friend Jan and I backpacked through Europe after graduating high school, we went to Heidelberg, Germany and in a souvenier shop found these chocolate candy balls called "Mozart Kugeln". My German back then was a little rusty so when I meant to ask the cashier what a Mozart Ball was, I accidentally said, "Are these really Mozart's balls?". She laughed and explained that a 'Mozart Ball' was a chocolate candy ball filled with hazelnuts and nougot. They were very tasty and only found in certain Germany stores. Well lo and behold in this airport gift shop were more Mozart Balls! So of course I bought some and they tasted just as good!
From Germany we flew to Kuwait - a 4 1/2 hour flight, where we stayed overnight and where I currently am until we leave for Iraq later this evening. I have to admit, this place is pretty amazing! This small base has a Baskin Robins, a Fed Ex, an internet cafe, a McDonalds, a Subway and a store where you can buy anything from Beer (which is a hit for the Australians stationed here) to DVDs. The 'mess or chow hall' is a sight to see. Let me explain, for breakfast this morning as we sat and watched the news on 42" plasma screen TVs located throughout this giant air conditioned hangar, I had a made to order omlette, pancakes, fresh fruit, fresh squezzed orange juice, I had a selection of American cereals from Lucky Charms to Corn Pops to Smart Start. There was a coffe/expresso machine and get this - even a bakery for lunch and dinner with a Kuwait baker who will cut fresh slices of cheesecake and carrot cake! I swear the food here was as good as a hotel in Waikiki Beach (except the view was much less than to be desired). All in all it's not bad - and I don't even know what Al Asad is like yet. I had a hot water shower this morning and a pretty good night of sleep in the large tent that housed about 75 of us.
I must admit that I feel kind of like Gomer Pyle though, being one of the only Navy guys stationed with all of these Marines who have done all this before, but I'm slowly getting into the swing of things. We were issued our ammunition yesterday - 30 bullets, 15 per cartridge. Well, the marines were laughing at me because I tried to accidentally fit 16 bullets in a cartridge meant for 15 (in my defense the man issuing the bullets gave me an extra bullet to make 16), and my gun holster is sagging a little bit too low so my Commanding Officer things I look like GunSmoke or some old Western Cowboy. You can tell I'm a little fresh off the cuff, but it's keeping everyone ammused I suppose. That's it for now. I do miss my friends and family, especially my close friends in Hawaii, but all in all, life ain't so bad!
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