Day 18 - 13 September 2012

Well, yesterday's post kind of led into this one. I woke up several times to check the internet, but it was still down. I ended up rolling out of bed around 0800, went to the office to check on our flight, and we were still good to go. I was going to go eat some breakfast, but wasn't really hungry, so I headed over to the USO to get on a computer.

I saw a couple of messages from Meagan...unfortunately, I had no way to let her know that I couldn't get on. By the time I got to the USO, she was asleep. I checked a few things on Facebook, watched a little bit of Taken, and then headed back toward the room.

I decided just before lunch to get my hair cut. I cut it myself when I first got here and took it down pretty low, but no fade. So, I decided I would get it cleaned up. The guy at the barber shop was awesome! He asked how I wanted it. When I told him a high fade, he said, "Smooth like baby's butt?" Sure...why not!?!

I was going to go eat lunch after my haircut, but the guy took long enough, I had to go get ready for my flight. Finally, after three nights, we get to go on our final leg and recover our equipment!

The flight was good; nothing big to report. Just a nice smooth ride across  a beautiful, but war torn country. I was like a kid in a candy store, sitting by the  window the whole time. I'm just awestruck by what I see from the air to think there is such violence. In a lot of the areas, you could see people working in the fields or driving on the streets. At one point, there was a group of children playing what appeared to be soccer. It's just crazy to see all of this and know what is going on here. It makes you wonder if some are aware of what is transpiring in their own country.

We got to our stop, only to be told we had one hour to tear down the equipment, pack it up, and meet the flight back...ONE hour. So, while I headed up on top of the building, the other guy went to go find the cases. I had the entire system torn down and all but two pieces on the ground in 15 minutes! I knew we didn't have a lot of time and I certainly wasn't going to waste ANY of it. The problem? We had NO cases. So, we made the decision to load all of the pieces on the bird and get them back. After all, that was our overall mission. We loaded everything up and made it back just fine! That's when we found out we could get all the way back tonight...potentially.

We went and grabbed dinner. I had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, and a grilled cheese sandwich. Kind of odd combination, huh? I had everything else before I saw the grilled cheese and, well, it looked good...it was! After dinner, we headed back to load up and get ready to move...if there was enough space.

Thankfully, they had enough room for us. It was a bit cramped with everyone's bags, but we made it! I'm now headed off to bed so I can talk to Meagan and the kiddos in the morning. Whew, a LONG day...but, well worth it! Night all!