The Eagle(s) have landed

Last night I didn't sleep well.  At one point James woke me up and said, "Are you OK?  You're shaking."  I can't remember what I was dreaming about, but I do know neither of us felt particularly rested at 6:00 am when we got up.

With some trepidation we got in a taxi and headed to the Jordan airport to board an Embassy Air flight to Sully Air Base in Baghdad.  We were each allotted 70 lbs.  You'll be glad to know that I was under my limit.  The State Department guy checking us in let us know that we wanted to be under 70 lbs so that we didn't go on the bad boy list.  Unfortunately when James put his stuff on the scale, he was 3 kilos over (about 6 lbs) and Mr. State informed him, "YOU, are on the bad boy list."

He let us through, but asked James to try to be a good boy next time.  Please note that the guy who used to travel with only a backpack everywhere is the guy on the bad boy list.  I'm not trying to draw undue attention to this, I just want to make sure it's, you know, clear.

We boarded our plane for baghdad and it felt very much like a normal commercial flight....except for little details like the safety sheet.  Note the title.


As we started to descend it appeared that all color had left our world.  Sort of like the beginning of the Wizard of Oz in Kansas before they introduce the wonderful innovation of techni-color.   Brown and tan everywhere you look.


At the base they warned us that you usually have to bunker up for anywhere from a couple hours to 24 hours until it's safe to travel on the rhino.  We were lucky.  As soon as we touched down they told us--the rhino is ready to go, so let's move through passports fast, fast, fast!  Gladly.


Next step, putting on our helmets and body armor and climbing in to a giant armored vehicle called a rhino.  I'm telling you, this is the weirdest dream I've ever been in.  And that gear is heavy---I was debating if I wanted to protect myself from shrapnel or a major headache.  I opted for the shrapnel and kept it on.


We journeyed safely through the city and arrived in about 30 minutes at the green zone.  What a relief!  And they told us we had brought the best weather yet with us--only around 105 and no humidity.  Fab!  It really didn't feel horrible at all.


And here's the part where James' eyes just lit up and he started sparkling:  free. food. everywhere.  No joke.  He was positively giddy that he could walk into a store or cafeteria, or what-have-you, take what he wanted and walk out WITHOUT PAYING.  It's like his life-long dream come true.


So here we are.  And it doesn't feel too scary yet.  Apart from the constant reminders to be ready to duck and cover, and the different stories we get from everyone to talk to on whether it is safe to be outdoors, it's like an amazingly nice, well-stocked, high security prison.  With lots of people carrying guns.  And better workout equipment.  And no shivs....that I've seen.


We are settling in.  And hoping for a nice long rocket-drought.   Is that so much to ask for?