Leaving Ft. Hood

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Today we left Ft. Hood on our great eastward journey. We left for the airfield about 1700. When we got to the airfield we had a briefing on Anti Terrorism which seemed odd as everyone on the plane had a rifle or pistol, and a knife.
After the briefing we had dinner, a sandwich and chips. The USO, Salvation Army, adn some churches had many offerings. The USO had snacks, drinks, and gum. The Salvation Army had toiletries and chapstick - they also offered to send our mail home for free.
I wrote letters to my family and sent a singing card to Lizzie. We soon boarded our plane, a DC 10. It was a bare bones 1960 era aircraft. The intercom was broken so the flight attendant used a bull horn. We flew to a city in the North East US. We arrived about 2 AM and were greeted by two WWII vets and their wives.
What a touching experience. Here they were offering a smile and handshake at 2 AM. I spoke with the two vets for a while. One was a submaraner on the SBN Florida. The other was in the AAF in North Africa. He was a Quarter Master who supplied fuel and bullets to the B-25s and fighters. He told me that the AAF supported Montgomery's English Tanks who were fighting Romel. They provided close air support to the English.
They are true heroes - there is no comparason to what they endured. There was a gift shop and coffee stand which the soldiers pilfered.
Fast forward 7 hours...
We arrived in East Germany today or is it tomorrow. I am all messed up - I saw the sun rise at 2 AS we flew towards the sun. With the time change it is hard to know what day or time it is.
In Germany there was a gift shop and fussball tables. The gift shop had mostly booze and absinthe. Both illegal for soldiers. I continue "into the wild" like Alex McCandless.

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