Longest Day Part II

I'm back.....

We boarded the plan with a sense of gratitude and thinking we were really appreciated. That euphoria ended abruptly as the flight plans were announced. We would stop in Canada, Iceland, Germany, and land in Kuwait at 1:30 in the morning local time.

After a quick calculation in my head the math did not make sense. It should be 1:30 in the afternoon. I raised my hand,"Don't you mean PM?" She promptly and with great zeal exclaimed, "No." What was I thinking?...It was a classic rookie mistake. As looked down in a dissapointed embarrassment I saw that I was wearing a military uniform. What was I doing asking sensible questions? The other officers snickered at me and wondered if I was a reservist. I could read their thoughts, "Go to sleep huckleberry and don't let us catch you crying for your Momma!"

The layover in Canada was brief but it felt longer because they would not let us out of the plane. As I attempted to get the crick out of my neck I looked out the window and much to my surprise there was snow on the ground. This might be the last snow for a while!

2 movies later we landed in Iceland. I read somewhere they had gone bankrupt. But they let us out anyway. This time of year the sun never sets there.

Here are three bottles of "Viking Beer" that some of the sailors drank. Not me Mom!

We boarded the plane and three movies later we landed in Germany. I am not allowed to say the name of the town but it definitely had a Eastern European feel. I was spooked when we were loaded into busses and made to walk single file into a holding area by tired appearing woman in a gray uniform. The woman handed blue passes and passed instructions to the group. Unfortunately for us the directions were in German. The guy standing next to me and I look at eachother and swallowed hard. Wasn't Aushwitz in Poland?"After all it was the "Longest Day." Maybe they held a grudge?

I've been known to exaggerate. Just ask Natalie. It makes her crazy. But, my philosophy is this: don't let a white lie get in the way of a good story......am I right?.....looking for some validation. Elizabeth and Regina...do you feel me? Plus, on the random chance you get in a conversation with a sailor; if he begins the story by saying,"Hey, this is a no shitter..." just go with it. Its your contribution to the war effort.

But right after the woman yelled into the loud speaker two middle aged German men dressed in drab eastern european clothing came out pushing a vendor's cart laden with bratwurst, sourkraut, and beans. I could believe it! Thank goodness there would be no smoking on the last leg of the flight to Kuwait because that's a volitile meal.

But, it gets better. The lay over in this airport was 15 hours!!! 15 fricken hours!!!

The woman that gave us the tickets then approached a doorway and opened it with a key. Inside were the beds you see above. We ate and slept only occassionally awakened by the symphony of noises our German hosts had provided for us with the previous meal.

As I lay down to sleep I realized my long day had come to an end. I lay with a full belly on a comfortable bed provided by a country we had been in an all out war with only 65 years earlier. Amazing. Something in me doubts that in 65 years Afghanistan will be a place a US service member could be resting comfortably. I'll let you know.

Love and enjoy

Fran