The day has finally come.  The 314th took off earlier today for Kuwait, and the eventual movement to our new home in Baghdad, Iraq, for approximately the next 10 months.

Saturday, our last day at Fort Dix, NJ, was a busy one.  We took a break mid-day for some bowling at the Fort Dix bowling alley…and an impromptu birthday party for our super supply sergeant — SPC Roshanda Thurston.  Afterwards, Soldiers took time to do one last load of laundry and make one last run to the exchange for previously forgotten items, and section leaders took time to talk to each Soldier and inspect their bags and answer last minute questions.  Underneath the ”busy work”, there was a little apprehension in some, anticipation in others, and a mixture of both in most.

Luckily, at the last minute our departure time was moved four hours “to the right” — in military-speak that means we left for our charter flight at McGuire Air Force Base four hours later, although the baggage detail left a couple hours ahead of us to load up the ton (or more) of bags that we collectively were bringing with us to Iraq.

While we waited at the McGuire (adjacent to Fort Dix) on Sunday, we again were treated like heroes.  The local USO had a spread of food and very kind volunteers there to make our departure more pleasant.  A few days earlier, we were told not to pack any food or drink in our carry-on bags because our flight attendants would be running a non-stop food service (besides, our bags were filled until they might have exploded, even with a “wafer thin mint”).

Based on the advice of a doctor I spoke to recently, I advised all the Soldiers to drink at least 8 ounces of water every hour during the flight, and to get up every hour or so to stretch.  It will be a VERY long flight, so that liquid and stretching will help us avoid some of the negative effects.  It sounds like there will be quite a few empty seats, so I don’t think anyone with be stuck with the dreaded middle seat.

As our flight touches down in two different European cities during our airline travel, our Soldiers will deplane into a secured area and MIGHT be able to call back to loved ones — that is, if we can locate and figure out how to operate pay phones with instructions in foreign languages.  If you don’t get a call, don’t worry; I can tell you from overhearing conversations over the past few days that your Soldiers are thinking about you and counting down the days until they see you again.

When we finally arrive in Kuwait, it will likely be awhile before we can contact families and friends.  Our main mission when we arrive will be to locate all our bags, make contact with the folks who will oversee our training and transit to Iraq, and, of course, reset our sleep cycles.  We will be traveling ahead 8 time zones, so our internal clocks will be all mixed up (I’ve heard sleeping on these deployment flights over is almost impossible).

For now, I sign off the blog until I reach CENTCOM connectivity,  إن شاء الله