After 2 months of predeployment in Fort Bragg, everyone was anxious to get to our destination. We left Fort Bragg and stopped in Leipzig, Germany to refuel. From there we flew to Manas Air Force Base in Kyrgyzstan on what was my birthday, in southwest Asia just north of Afghanistan. So both our stops were in what use to be communist East Germany and the former Soviet Union. Go figure. The scenery there was gorgeous, but it wasn't long after we left that the Kyrgyz Parliament voted to close the base after the they and the U.S. failed to agree on a higher rent for the property. We arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 10, and from there our unit started getting split apart. I ended up going to Camp Lightning by Gardez for 2 weeks,
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