Sitting here in limbo...

Come on, sing along all you Dead Heads! OK so that's only Erin, well maybe Chris too. (Hi, Benda!) Ali Al Slem, ah what an incredible place of boredom, dust and frustration. I have spent some pretty miserable days here awaiting transport into Iraq. Now I sit here waiting for my flight out. This is the transportation hub for most all "coalition" soldiers and civilians in and out of theater, including Afghanistan. I sleep in a tent during the day (attempting to stay on schedule with home and work), with ten other contractor and DOD types, on crappy old mattresses that I spend a lot of time trying not to think about. There are no sheets or bedding unless you bring them along. By now, I am prepared for all of this and have opted for this rather than the Kuwaiti "hotel" option. Spending a hundred dollars a night for significant but modest improvements in living conditions just wasn't in me this time. I would rather spend it on the other end where the beer and water have the same effect.
I had trouble getting out of Speicher because of weather and Army bureaucracy, but that is behind me now. In approximately 24 hours I will be even less comfortably sitting on a Boeing 777 headed west. I was going to see about trying to go "space a" out of Kuwait ahead of my reservation but the flight is long and has many layovers, so I chose to to wait it out and be more secure in my travel. I am slightly concerned about the word that United has grounded their entire fleet of 777s for inspections. I am not concerned about safety just that a small delay in my first flight could derail the whole train later on down the track. Oh well, wait and see, I guess.
I'll see you soon, baby!
Cliff