It was a surreal feeling as the government contracted United Airlines Boeing 747 hurled itself down the runway at Robert Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood Texas. I was in seat 1A sitting literally in the nose of the 747 in first class luxury. Glancing down at myself, I see the desert camouflage uniform with my M16 muzzle down against the wall in front of me and my Beretta 9mm pistol holstered to my thigh. What a truly strange way to be going to a combat zone. The mix of irony being armed and on a United Airlines jet deepened the already strange mix of emotions.
We were wheels up now climbing up into the clouds. I could see my neighborhood growing smaller knowing that I was leaving behind my wife and two young boys who could no doubt hear the sound of our plane thundering into the sky. I felt as though I was abandoning them as if I had a choice about where I was headed. With a short pit stop in Prague to refuel, we arrived at the Kuwait International Airport well after sunset.
After waiting for close to an hour, we saw a line of buses coming down the flight line, which would be our ride. A pleasant looking female, presumably Air Force, boarded the plane and gave us our official welcome to Kuwait. “Welcome to Kuwait. Shortly we will begin to deplane and load the busses just outside. Absolutely no headgear is allowed on the flight line. Please do not take any pictures until you arrive at Camp Wolverine. You are to walk as fast as you can and load the busses with minimal delay. There have been sniper incidents here in the past.” With that being said I glanced over at Bric Lewis, who was a fellow test pilot, he was looking at me and I could tell the very same thoughts were running through his head. “The honeymoon is over!" We arrived at Camp Wolverine with no issues.
After arriving, we began our process of swiping our Identification cards to begin receiving our Combat pay, family separation pay, hazardous duty pay as well as Federal Income Tax relief. With the briefings being completed, the supply sergeant distributed the combat load of ammunition to every soldier. Our next step in our arrival process was to load up on busses once again for a two-hour ride to Camp Virginia Kuwait. This would be our home for the next 30 days while we received our vehicles and equipment from the port and combat readied them for the convoy North into Iraq.
Climbing aboard the bus I did a quick head count to ensure the proper number of soldiers were aboard. I gave a quick briefing since I was the senior officer aboard. I want everyone to keep his or her body armor and Kevlar helmets on for the duration of the ride. All of your non-essential equipment needs to be secured under the seat in front of you. I do not want to catch anyone sleeping. I do not want anyone listening to headphones. All of the drapes on the windows are to be kept drawn closed. I want everyone to do a function check on the windows and see how they open. In case we receive incoming fire, nobody is to fire until ordered to do so. Everyone can hear my voice…remember it. Any questions? You could have heard a pin drop on that bus. I took a seat in the very first row. I am not sure but I have heard rumors that in the Middle East women are for procreation…but men are for recreation. Now keep in mind that I am sitting in the front row almost right behind the bus driver. I think my critical mistake here was to smile and nod at the bus driver when we made eye contact as I boarded the bus. Now in the U.S. this simple gesture would not have aroused any further suspicions. However, here in Kuwait, I think this Kuwaiti was rather sweet on me and he assumed I was sweet on him. I figured at the very least maybe this might mean I would not have to worry about us making it to Camp Virginia. At least I hoped. Arriving at Camp Virginia after a long trip from Ft Hood Texas I settled into my cot and passed out from exhaustion until the next morning
