The Swirl of the Whirlwind

Well, let's discuss the last couple of days...

First, the trip home. It was mixed with both a sense of speed and molasses. Speed as I had the military version of the "Golden Ticket". Priority 1, Emergency Leave. Translated: No one left Kandahar before I did. Wherever I went, I was first in line. Even had a personal escort through the system in Qatar. The downside? Germany is it's own version of "You can't get there from here."
Strangely enough, even after watching plane after plane after plane fly through Kandahar daily... I couldn't get out. I had several options. Option 1 was to go to Manas, Kyrghystan (I'm sure it's spelled wrong, but since this country has several different spellings, I'm either using one or adding another one.) If I went there, I'd have been stuck until 1 December. No go. Option 2 was to Ali Al Saleem Air Base (remember Camp Holding Pen?) in Kuwait. GREAT option. Could almost immediately get another flight. BUT - the C-130 was nearly full with reserved mission pax, leaving only 4 seats. Of course, I was first in line for those 4 seats, but if they added last minute cargo, I'd have been stuck.
Option 3 was for Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. This is the hub of the war. Sounds great, right? Well... turns out to be the best option, even though I faced a potentially long wait there.

Grabbed a C-17 to Qatar and off I go... 36 hours after receiving the Red Cross message (and this WAS the first flight offered I could get on.)

I landed in Qatar after an enjoyable C-17 flight - love the "Whale". It was full of cargo, but I staked out a seat and was comfy and happy and.... it was a C-17, so was pleased with life.

Anyway, landed and felt like I was at Middle-East Charleston. I counted no fewer than 7 Charleston C-17 tails, and several more from other bases... All packed tightly in. There was also another ramp for the tankers, some JSTARS, and every now and then, fighters were doing full-afterburner takeoffs... my tail was wagging.

They asked if anyone was on emergency leave, and... my hand shot up. I was culled from the herd, given a personal escort, and moved briskly through the in-process. Within 5 minutes, I was discussing my next flight (the others were still outside where they'd be for quite a bit longer).
The next military flight wasn't until 130 the next day (21 hours away), so... since I had a Golden Ticket, I was going to go check out the civilian side. Only had to wait a few hours until they opened, so wandered the base a bit until then.

With the Golden Ticket, the military will BUY me a ticket on civilian air to get me where I need to go... anywhere. Easy enough. I showed up for the opening of the office, and discovered it was already open (an hour early). I waited in line, and when I told them where I was headed, I was told that the next flight I could get would be the next morning. There WAS a flight earlier, but they'd already booked a team of 6 Spec-Ops guys (including a genuinely wonderful LTC who looked like he was sculpted from a GI Joe doll). The staff at the place tried to get the boss to understand I was Priority 1 Emergency Leave, but she wouldn't budge. I asked about other routings, but... her office had a policy of only booking a certain way.
Now, being slightly familiar with the workings of the travel system and having been given time to surf the net prior to flying from Afghanistan, I knew there were several different flights from Doha International to Germany (pick an airport - any airport). But, her office did have policies.

Well, the LTC (who'd been with me since KAF, and had seen I'd been on Emergency Leave) saw I was running into difficulties while his team had tickets. (This was fun to watch, and immensely helpful... I love watching people use their rank when not directed AT me.)

LTC: "Does this Soldier have a ticket?"
AF MSG: "No, we're all booked out."
LTC: "He's Emergency Leave..."
AF MSG: "Yes, but y'all took our last tickets."
LTC: "Then bump one of my guys."
AF MSG: "We can't, they're already booked."
LTC: "If HE doesn't fly, my team won't fly."
AF MSG: "Sir, your team has booked tickets. You can go ahead and fly."
LTC: "You don't understand, if that Soldier on Emergency Leave doesn't get a ticket, we will not fly and you can find us ANOTHER way."
AF MSG: "Let us check..."
(5 minutes go by)
AF MSG: "Well... if we route him through London, he can be in Germany tonight."
LTC: "That's what I'm talking about... book his ticket."

Me (outside a few minutes later): "Thank you, Sir... for everything."

So, I was booked on a Qatar Airways (the new darling of the military for civilian travel) to London and then Lufthansa to Frankfurt. I would get in late, but... still make it.

Qatar Airways is always pleasant to fly as they are quite luxurious, even in Economy class.

I walked into my home shortly after midnight, Monday morning, after approximately 45 hours of travel. Not bad.







Now what?
Well, I'm not on leave. The unit is helping me with a huge gift. I signed into the unit here immediately upon arrival meaning I'm not burning days of leave. Downside - I'm not on leave, and theoretically subject to formations, etc. However, since I live two floors above the 1SG and the unit is well aware of all that's going on... All I have to do is check in periodically, 1-2 times per day, and... I'm free to take care of business. Nice perk. Let's me save the leave for when I really need it.

Already, the whirlwind is blowing. Part of it is that everyone wants to help, and... we don't know what we need yet. Sort of like this: We KNOW that there's a Big, Bad Enemy out there. But we don't know what kind of enemy or how to fight it yet. We just know the battle is imminent.

Spoke with the base doc, and we're going to coordinate between the American and German systems, staying with the German primarilly for now (as the closest American hospital is four hours away). Doc is also going to get us a medical priority to move our housing so we won't be on the third floor anymore (once chemo starts, Ellicia will not be fond of stairs so much).

We have care givers lined up, in fact, in line waiting for the chance to watch the kids...

So, now we enter "Learning Week". We have two appointments this week where Ellicia will face a battery of tests as we try to recon just what kind of enemy we face.

Thank you, ALL, for your kind thoughts... and especially to my Angels, as my mission now changes to fight a new battle.