Freedom!

I am sitting at Rachel's house on my second morning to wake up in the states.  The morning sun is splashing through her upstairs windows and from my chair I have a nice view of southern of Colorado Springs.  It's already more than I could ask for.  Yesterday I spotted my first mule deer since returning from Afghanistan as she was leisurely crossing the street near my townhouse.  I picked up the keys to the house yesterday and was very pleased at what my "blind rental" turned out to be.  It's a tad smaller than my previous house (which is fine, my other place was plenty large).  It has a wood-burning fireplace and a brick nice patio area that will be great for "evening sitting."  I walked through the empty rooms and it already felt like home.  Colorado Springs feels like home.

The trip from FOB Walton to Colorado Springs only took about 6 days, which is really good by Army standards. Last Wednesday (on a hot, dry, and sunny morning), I loaded a chinook helicopter with over a dozen other soldiers (and all our gear - those choppers are amazing!), and we flew from FOB Walton to Kandahar Air Field (KAF). I was able to catch up with 2 of my friends, Merk and Cory, who'd both gotten there several days prior. My stay at KAF lasted only 2 days and consisted of bad food, hot dusty runs, and very smelly air. There's a "poo pond" at KAF where they process (i.e. burn) all the wastes from the base.  You're walking along, smelling mostly dirt in the air, when all of a sudden your nostrils start to burn.  Then you smell it...a cross between you sticking your head in a freshly-used toilet and someone getting a perm at the hair salon.  Your sleeping quarters (a giant tent with dirty bunk beds) smell like it too.  One silver lining to the trip to KAF (besides that it meant I was one step closer to being home) was that I was able to have dinner and coffee with an old friend from Fort Sam Houston. She's a PA and we ran together on the FSH 10-miler team back in 2009. She's spending a year deployed, treating soldiers at KAF with an aviation unit.

Leaving KAF was its own bit of fun. Unlike leaving Walton, where I woke up at 7am to fly around noon...my group started the process of leaving with a formation at midnight. After getting a briefing, we loaded all our bags onto a truck by the transient tents and boarded buses to go to the "terminal." The terminal at KAF is really 2 parts. One part consists of a limited number of chairs outside...the other part is indoors and looks more like a real airport terminal. We spent about 2 hours sitting outside in the cold before we were "released" for 1.5 hours. Merk and I were so exhausted we hiked back to the tents and found a couple open bunks to sleep for an hour. We made it back to the outdoor "terminal" just after 4am. We formed up by alphabetical order and one by one went through security (first time ever with a weapon!).  I only had about 10 min inside before we all filed outside to get on the C-17. The C-17 is a very large cargo plane that reminds me of a whale.  You enter through the back cargo area and there are seats available in the middle as well as seats lining both sides of the plane (facing inward).  Our bags are placed on pallets which are loaded behind us once everyone is on the plane.  The plane itself is very loud because you are essentially sitting in a giant room with great acoustics that echo all of the engine sounds.  After 7+ hours of pre-flight activities in the middle of the night, the C-17 blasted down the runway.  After weeks of anticipation, it wasn't until the tires lifted off the runway and we were pressed into the seats that I felt like I was coming home.  I relaxed my shoulders, closed my eyes, and mouthed the words "goodbye Afghanistan."  We were bound for Manas, Kyrgyzstan, a place with clean air and people whom from my understanding don't wish to kill me.  It was a high point.

Our flight was only 3 hours or so. When we landed we took buses from the plane to the inner compound of the post. We "inprocessed" to the post by handing over our ID cards and getting several briefings. Once released, we all headed to the transient tents to find a bunk bed.  We were at Manas for a couple days as well.  Those days consisted of twice daily formations (at a minimum), mandatory training ("don't beat your spouse, don't sexually harass/assault anyone," etc.), more bad food, running on a sandy trail about 0.3 miles in length (military bases are fond of small circles), and a couple glasses of wine.  I traveled through Manas on my way to Afghanistan, but at the time it was the dead of winter and either snowing or gray.  I couldn't see the beautiful mountain range that graced the north view from the base until this trip through.  This time there was green everywhere and even a few flowers.  I didn't notice the gorgeous mountain range until I went for my first run...I turned a corner and glanced north and it took my breath away (or maybe it was the running?).  On my last run at Manas I was exploring some of the sandy trails that didn't go in a circle and I ended up running to the edge of the compound.  It was there that I encountered a precious view of lush, green farmland with the massive mountain range behind it. It was a sight for sore eyes.  I felt like I was getting my first drink of water after days in the desert.  Unfortunately, my view didn't last long because as I ran along the road I encountered an Air Force "security forces" guy that asked me to return to the trail.  He was actually very friendly about it, said that not all the trails were marked appropriately and he stopped transient folks on almost a daily basis.  I gathered that he was probably bored with driving up and down the fenceline, so he didn't mind these "minor infractions."  In fact, I think it was a highlight of his day because we talked for close to 15min about his assignment at Manas (6 months) and his next assignment in San Antonio (5 years non-deployable).  He had a police dog with him, but I don't think the dog talks much.

Leaving Manas was the same exercise as leaving Kandahar, with a 12:45 formation and hours upon hours of standing and waiting.  I think we left Manas around 8:30am local time, but I don't really remember.  We were all very tired from being up all night.  However there was a silver lining to the rest of the trip.  We flew to Hahn, Germany...and after an extremely uncomfortable (secondary breathing of smoke - the Europeans are very tolerant to cigarette smoke), we boarded our plane for a direct flight to Colorado Springs.  Granted...we took a very northern route over Greenland and Canada, but we never had to stop.  We arrived in CoSprings a little late because we left Manas late, but by that point no one cared about it being an hour off.  We were home!  Elizabeth, Santiago, Ruth, and Rachel all came to meet me at Ft Carson.  I was home now.  HOME!

Everything felt a little surreal.  I will admit that America looks a little different to me now.  I have a new appreciation for the freedom that I have here...the freedom to go out in public, to make decisions for myself, to live where I want, to talk to who I want, to buy what I want (and can afford of course)...  America is a unique place in this world.  I hope that we will all take care of ourselves and one another, in the ways that matter.  Dwelling in a dangerous country that doesn't have women's rights and abides by a law that is completely backwards to how I was raised (and probably how you were raised) has taught me a great deal.  The world is amazing and it's scary.  Bad things can happen, do happen, and will happen.  How we deal with our problems and how we treat one another are what matters.  I've seen some of the poorest people on earth living in dirt houses and drinking water infected with parasites.  They don't even have the basics.  Take a good hard look at the real world.  We're privileged beyond belief.  I don't want to tell people how to live based on my limited and very personal experiences, but I think we could all appreciate how fortunate we are.

I just remember that we are not entitled to anything we have and it could all be gone tomorrow.  What we have is temporary.  Whatever that means to you, however you think that should affect your decisions and the way you treat others...that's your journey to make, not mine.  I only know that Americans are already living in a fairy-tale world, with freedoms and resources other people on earth can only dream of...