Getting there . . .

Well, I haven't posted much, partly because we have been busier. We have flown a lot more, and the equipment is starting to work with more regularity. We have logged some good training hours, and the end of training is in sight. We may even leave Hagerstown this week. Of course, nothing has been a sure bet so far.

If everything works out and we leave Hagerstown, we will go back to the CRC at Ft. Bliss, and catch a flight from there to Kuwait. After that, we face some more familiarization training, and then we will await transport to our operating base (COB Speicher, near Tikrit). From what we hear, this could take a while. Of course, there are a lot of unknowns, and we really will find things out as we go along. The most certain thing is that there will be a lot of "hurry up and wait".

So far, I have spent just over 8 weeks in the same motel room. That is certainly a record for me. At least the room is pretty nice and has a microwave and a fridge, and we have wireless internet. There isn't a lot to recommend about Hagerstown, though (of course, I have a somewhat jaded point of view). It's small enough so that there aren't many interesting restaurants, and we are also limited to sticking around because we are sharing cars. Could be worse, though. I could be living in Army barracks and eating Army food.

Hagerstown does benefit from being near a lot of interesting places. Washington, DC is about 90 minutes away, and Baltimore is a little closer (although I haven't been to Baltimore). There are several Civil War battle sites nearby, most notably Gettysburg. There is a scattering of historical sites around, so those have been interesting to see. Note that I have seen most of these while Laura has come to visit. My compatriots aren't big on these kinds of things, although they did enjoy a short trip to Gettysburg way back in January.

I will post more information as the situation changes. Well, so long as I am able to . . . obviously, once we start traveling, it will be less likely that I can post.