At around 0100 in the morning we were told that our flight was delayed an hour which became 2 hours which became 13 hours. All the while we had to stay pretty much in this huge hanger. None of us planned for this and thus none of us had our warmest clothes on, sleeping bags or pillows. We had to make due sleeping on the plywood floor.
The good news is that we finally hoped on board a C-130 and took the 2.5 hour journey to Manas air field in Kyrgystan. It is in Bishkek, here is a link .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishtek. By the time we did all the formations, gear checks, weapons check, briefs....it was near midnight local time. However, I was still on an adrenaline high so I went to the only place on base that serves alcohol to get me a little sedation in a bottle. We are limited to 2 beers in a 24 hour period for safety reasons. I have not had a beer in 6 months and for 2 bucks I got this 16 ounce beer called 9. Why is it called 9 you ask, because it is 8.6% alcohol and they round up. So I drank maybe 40% of the beer to be on the safe side and it did the trick. I woke up feeling almost like a minor hangover between the lack of sleep over past 2 days and my out of shape liver being exposed to alcohol again.
So anyhow, things are better here in Manas. I got a big gym, a big chow hall with midrats (that's midnight rations for all you non-military folk) and my room has wireless internet. I will be back in the States next week. See you all very soon.
Air traffic control.
Trying to get comfy.
Staging area for flight.
Marines can sleep anywhere.
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