Coconut to the mainland...

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This could be a really exciting trip and I’m so excited that Dobie and Davina asked me to travel with them. We are going back to the United States! If you remember I’m from Hawaii so a trip to the mainland is a pretty big deal. I’ve only read about where we are going through previous blogs so now I get to experience the adventure myself.

Our journey started at a crazy hour, I never dreamed I would have to get up at 0300 in the morning and to be honest I never want to do it again. Why does the army seem to think that we have to do everything so early? I suppose if there has been one thing I have learned from those two…It doesn’t help anything to complain.

Seriously though, we were heading back to Camp Atterbury Indiana and I didn’t even have to ask, I knew Davina and Dobie were excited for a change of pace. This was going to be a good couple of weeks, even if we all were going to have to work really hard. I did notice one really good thing about driving really early in the morning…There was absolutely nobody else in Kosovo awake so the traffic circles were super easy to get through and the roads were much safer.

Once we got to the airport we linked up with three other soldiers from the Military Intelligence Office who were heading to Camp Atterbury as well to do some training with the KFOR 13 staff from Puerto Rico. We know the end of our deployment is getting nearer when our replacements are at the mobilization station and their training has started!

The Austrian Airline plane was pretty comfortable and the stewardess even gave me and Dobie our very own seat to share. I learned real fast that airplane travel is quite boring. We read an Enquirer magazine that was 6 weeks old, we ate those nasty little snacks that they serve you in the cheap seats. I realized that it really is a circle of bad luck while flying. You see they give you this tiny bag of pretzels that are as dry as a windy day in the desert, and then you have to ask for something to drink. We got this water that had bubbles in it which didn’t taste so good but I was desperate. Then you have to eventually go to the bathroom which turns out to be an experience in itself. People flying on airplanes for 10 hours at a time should have certain rules about bathrooms. They need to remember that there are people who must come behind you. Even the army provides some kind of air freshners!

Since this was my very first time at this flying thing it was quite the experience. Kids crying for hours, men snoring really loud, people drooling because they have gone into some form of sleep coma’s. Not me, I just amused myself by watching others and how they survived in really cramped areas for extended periods of time. Only two movies were shown so I was left to my own demise and sat and chatted incessantly with the poor person next to me.

The highlight of the trip was looking out the window and seeing the incredible mountain ridges between Kosovo and Vienna Austria. Wow! I could almost hear Heidi singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music”, right there on the plane. Sure hope someday that I can come back and visit those beautiful mountains.

We had a layover in Vienna and all of us sat and ate a breakfast as only the Europeans can serve. Hard rolls, meat and cheeses, and super strong coffee. I guess that keeps them going all the way until those great dinners with schnitzels, red cabbage and spaetzels!

So before I knew it a entire 23 hours of flight time was actually done and I could be finished with this international travel for a few days. Everybody was really tired and glad to be back on US soil. It was pretty comical to watch Davina and her friends drag their duffle bags around the airport and try to do the simplest of tasks like rent a car. In defense of them, it was in the middle of the night when we arrived. And speaking of rental cars. When they actually started driving on the freeway in Indiana it appeared as if they took things in stages. It seemed like they drove 45 mph forever, almost as if they were getting used to normal highways. Then slowly they found their way to going the speed limit. Hmmn. Maybe they were missing the horrific roads of Kosovo and those fun traffic circles.

One thing for sure, when we arrived at the hotel at 0230 in the morning, I was so tired everything was blurry and I couldn’t wait to get to sleep. But as with any new place, I was too excited to sleep and we just spent time jumping on the beds, leaving the door open to the bathroom and then took a shower without shower shoes! Oh, life is good!

The night was short and we headed out to Camp Atterbury first thing in the morning just to start touching bases with our old friends here in Indiana. Wow! They were really excited to see Davina and the guys from the original Torch party. But the best part of the day was eating at the most wonderful greasy burger joint. The Shake and Steak not only served the messiest burgers but the biggest cookies and cream shakes I’ve ever had! This food was way better than Kosovo food any day!

So for now, the administrative and logistics team must spend the next few days preparing for nearly 600 soldiers to arrive from Kosovo and next thing they know their deployment will be over. So me and Dobie will probably go out site seeing while the team does all the preparation work, but we want to go through the de-mobilization process with all the soldiers so we know what to expect for when the rest of KFOR 12 departs at the end of the summer.

For now…We wait for the peacekeepers to return to Camp Atterbury!

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