We are HERE!... Finally!

So it's been a longgggg time but I'll tell you all why. We had our 7 days of vacation time after Camp Atterbury and I definitely was not thinking of this blog on vacation [you wouldn't either]. We then had 7 days of waiting at Camp Atterbury just waiting to leave and when I say waiting... yes we waited! Then started our movement to here. We flew from Indiana to Ireland. Guess what I was able to do? I had 2 Guinness beers in Ireland. Gosh they tasted to amazing. Then to Germany, and for those who don't know me or my past, I was stationed in Ramstein Air Base, Germany for 2 years. Boy did I miss living there when I arrived to the Airport. Unfortunately, we didn't stop at the Air Base but I was still able to say "danke shun" after I bought my food and got a "bitte shun" in return. It felt great.

24 hours later we were at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan. We were there for about 3 days. We were able to have 2 beers there our last night as well. Now I'm starting to sound like an alcoholic but I'm not a swear. This is the reason why MOST of us get excited about it though. For the next 9 months we won't have the option of opening a beer and drinking it at our pleasure. Our freedom gets taken away here but it's understandable.

Well the experience at Manas wasn't too bad. We did swear ALOT from the change of weather we got. It definitely shocked our bodies and then to be dragging ALL your luggage around is not fun. Especially me with all the extra camera equipment I have to take in a pelican case. I cannot complain about the living arrangements and facilities there and free wifi [can't beat that].

Our tents at Manas and they're not bad at all

Loading onto the C-17 at Manas. Mostly my team in there

So about 1/3rd of there are on my team! Lovely C-17 ride



Thought it was an interesting shot. FYI... I sweat alot



Zzzz's is a common thing on most flights



Well after 72 hours of being at Manas we move to Afghanistan. WOO HOO! Finally here but here's the catch. We are landing at Kandahar Air Field and we have to end up at FOB Smart. For those of you who don't know, a FOB is a forward operating base so basically, it's a small base more in the middle of villages with less functions and facilities. So I was at Kandahar for 9 days. Not to mention, I almost left on my 7th day and we got in the air and I'm excited and when we are landing I hear "this is a big flight line for a FOB" and "it smells like the poo pond here too" and when I look outside I say to myself "NOOO Why are we back here." Well we find out that because of weather [too much dust in the air] we weren't able to see the mountains and it would be too dangerous so we turned back around. So we un-load our stuff from the Chinook and load it on the LMTV just to unload it at the tents and do it again the next time. I think I unloaded and loaded over 300 bags from the transition from Indiana to here.

Now I will briefly vent to you all =) ... The mattress I slept on at Kandahar was the worst mattress I have ever slept on in my entire left. Every morning a spring sticking out of the mattress would cut me and those springs on my back were..... wonderful [sarcasm included here]. The day we were leaving guess what they were replacing in the tents? THE MATTRESSES! Gee Thanks! but on the bright side, everyone after us will sleep better now.



I think this bed is from Vietnam just brought to Afghanistan

 

Hmm... I'd say about 150 people or more in this tent

 

My tease ride



And alottt of this... sleeping and waiting

So finally on the 9th day we get picked up and we are finally leaving. ALL of us in one Chinook to destination FOB Smart. AWESOME! I loved this day lol. Now I don't know if I've ever mentioned in this blog that I love my job. Well I'll say it now, I Love My Job! It has its perks. And I'll show you guy why below. So we flew for about 45 minutes in a joyful ride and get to FOB Smart and get settled in. Instead of getting welcomed with hugs and kisses we got welcomed with room assignments and ammunition.

Awesome!

And this shows why I love my job!



Enough said!

   

And thanks to him I got to take these photos



Loading at KAF



And unloading at our "home" away from home



Ok so this blog post will take us to about July 3rd. It is now July 8th so I'm missing about 5 days. So I'll save those 5 days for the next blog post. I will post it tomorrow or the next day I PROMISE! [I normally try to keep those]. Now that I'm in country and getting work done I'll be online more often to send out my imagery to media. After I do that I'll make sure to set aside a few photos for you all. In the next post I'll show you all how we live, what we do in spare time, and a picture of me on top of Alexander's Castle. YES! Alexander The Great! And here's a trick question for you.... the question is under the photo.

What does Lt. Gutzman hold in his hand here?

You'll find out in the next one...