Some going home stories

Going home was great. It is a good bit of effort in terms of travel, and the Government spends a lot of money on sending the fellas home for a few weeks. First, you have to get to Kuwait, which isn't as easy as it sounds. Many different things must happen for you to do this-- you have to be booked on a flight [all flights for Service members out of Baghdad International Air Port (BIAP) are USAF/Coalition aircraft], then you have to be manifested, then you have to build your baggage pallet, then you have to wait. Then the plane has to show up, then the plane has to not break. Then the weather must be good (dust storms are a mother around here), and then the pilots must feel like flying. I got out about a day later than I was supposed to, due to maintenance issues.

Once in Kuwait, the most powerful E4s in the Army (soldiers in the rank of Specialist; junior enlisted soldiers) take over. These kids are in charge of manifesting and loading charter flights from Kuwait to the States. They rush you through a very efficient process of getting you out the door to the states. That's all they do every day. If you have to stay overnight, you sleep in tents and find ways to pass the time. They have a good rec center, a USO (more on the USO later), and a great gym. They have some commercial restaurants- Pizza Hut and McDonalds, for example (they had a Subway, but it burned down on my return trip). I made it out of Kuwait with no issues.

R and R flights go to either DFW or Atlanta. Since I was going to Austin, I landed at DFW in the morning. DFW does a fantastic job of welcoming Soldiers home. As soon as you clear Customs, the race is on to get on a plane home. We are booked on flights prior to leaving Kuwait, but the 'big three' airline (American Airlines, US Air, Delta) policy is to book you on the first thing smoking out. I had a 2:00pm flight, but the guy outside of Customs had a roster of what was going out, and he told me to go check my luggage at the counter and then AA will book me on an earlier flight. To shorten the story, AA overbooks all of its flights, so you get Standby on the best aircraft you can. I ended up getting out of DFW at around 1:30 after trying to go standby on three other planes. To their credit, AA did stick me in First Class, and they did announce over the intercom that there was a service member returning from Iraq on board- the plane erupted in applause. I got home 30 minutes before I was supposed to, but I'll take it.

Normally I can't stand the DFW airport. I consider American Airlines to possibly be the worst run company on the planet-- whenever I fly them their planes are late, their flight attendants are lazy, and it usually isn't a pleasurable traveling experience. But the very cool part about DFW is how they treat returning Service members. As you exit the D Terminal to go check your bag and confirm your next flight, you have to go through a large foyer that was filled with probably close to 150 people welcoming us home. Lots of VFW folks, a softball team, bikers, boy scout groups, church groups all shake your hand, tell you welcome home, and pass you food (as you have not really slept or eaten in about 19 hours). I was moved that these folks take the time to do this every day. ABC News did a special on the guy who started the program a couple of years ago. (http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=2845247) He was a Vietnam Vet who wanted to give back better than he got.

It was a great way to start the leave. If you ever have some time in DFW in the morning, go hang out at around 8 in the morning in the lobby outside Customs of the D Terminal and say hi to the fellas coming home. It means a lot.

http://www.dfwairport.com/heroes/

Future topics: Leave, the USO, Comedians, and back to work!

Take care-
Ron