Home at Last

Good morning everybody. At 14 and half months I have finally returned home to Italy. I actually arrived on Friday after a whirl wind tour through the combat theatre. We had to take a cargo helicopter out of COP Lowell to the main Forward Operating Base (FOB), then on to the nearest airbase. Everyone managed to hold onto their lunch on this flight, but from what I have heard, this was a rare occurence. We were fortunate to take a C-130 from the airbase to Bagram (BAF) which made the journey that much shorter but again we were fortunate. The group following us missed the manifest and had to carry on to BAF via helicopter. They all looked a bit green once they caught up to us. Then began the long wait. In the Army it is common to hurry up and wait. Well hurry up and wait we did. A week in BAF is akin to being stabbed to death by ducks. Thankfully we were able to get an earlier flight to Manas, the last stop before Aviano, Italy. Someday I would like to measure the distance from start to finish. The difficulty with this would be that I have no idea where I was. Kamu is most decidely not on the map.
So now I have been home for 2 days. It is certainly an adjustment, and I will write more about this in my future blogs. Needless to say, I am wide awake at 04.20 am and I don't have to go to work until 07.30. Today is going to be a long day. Thank you everyone for sending your well wishes. I hope to catch up with my correspondence before month's end. If you sent me a letter or care package, please know that I will be sending you a proper thank you very soon. My friends and family certainly made this most recent deployment bearable and I am eternally grateful for your love, prayers, and support. I wish you all the best in the days ahead. Take care and God speed.