Flight to Kabul

Easter Sunday was the first day of a 5 day trip to Kabul for various meetings and two conferences. The trip actually started the night before because we didn't know what flight we were taking Sunday morning. I worked a full Saturday, ate dinner at 1830 and then went to my room to work the internet. I then had to go back to to the RC(S) compound at 2100 to see when our flight leaves. 45 minutes later the Captain returns saying we have the 0600 flight with 0400 show time! Little sleep for me.

Up at 0315, showered and 10 minute walk to the air terminal to meet LTC Cameron. We checked in and had to run all of our stuff through the "x-ray" machine (including my M-9 pistol!). Unfortunately, it was noticed that my body armor did not have "plates" and I couldn't board without them. Rules are rules, you know. Walked back to my room, scrounged through the duffels under my bed (while trying not to wake my room-mates) and pulled out the two 8 pound plates. Back to the flight line having had my workout for the day! Another hour wait and then boarded the plane.

Ends up we weren't flying directly to Kabul. An hour and a half later, we landed in the northern AFG city of Mazir-e Sharif. Lovely place actually. Reboarded the Canadian C-130 after half hour layover and off to Kabul. Wrong! An hour and 20 minutes later we landed in the far western AFG city of Herat. Short layover and then off to Kabul. 1 hour ten minutes later and we landed at KAIA (Kabul International Airport) and waited for our transport to ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) Headquarters. Ate a cold hamburger and waited some more.

The UK transport team arrived at 1415 consisting of an armored van and two armored Toyota SUV's. We were given a briefing explaining what to do if something went wrong during the 10 minute ride. We climbed into the back of the Toyota in full "battle rattle" (helmet, body armor, etc). The ride was uneventful. Arrived at ISAF HQ at 1500.
0600 flight - 1500 arrival = 9 hours to travel to Kabul!

The picture is at KAIA. For the folks who haven't tried it yet, if you click on the picture, they get bigger for better viewing.