Show me the money!!!

Hi Friends!

I’m getting settled into life and the routine here on ABOT. I finally got all of my paperwork, travel claims, etc filled out, scanned and sent to the Carrier where our Admin folks are for processing. Now it should only take 3-4 months for the bastion of efficiency that our Navy pay and personnel system is to finally see the money ☺

On the money--- there are a few benefits to being out here on ABOT. No, I’m not talking about the food or the skype or the fact that you don’t get seasick or that we stand a set watch every day… those are things that make ABOT way cooler than a ship. Being the suzy sunshine that I try to be, I like to look on the positive side of everything. The ONLY way that deployment is better than being at home, and I mean the ONLY thing, which does NOT outweigh all of the negatives, is the amount of money that you save. Yes, it is part due to the fact that I can’t find one of those little machines that like to read my credit card to spend all of my money, nor are there any grocery stores or Pottery Barns or Yogurtlands or any of the other beauties of capitalism that like to help me take my money off my hands. No folks, I’m talking about the price tag that the Navy has put on taking you away from your families for a ludicrous amount of time on bulky, decrepit, rusty, hot and gross pieces of steel in some of our less desirable waterfront property around the world.

While deployed to a “combat zone,” we are privy to federal-tax exemption as long as we are in the zone for at least one day (this is why you may see ships try to manipulate their schedules to get into the Gulf one day earlier or stay one day later as long as it crosses into the new month, as this allows the ENTIRE crew to enjoy that ENTIRE month without seeing the government’s hand dip into their money) Maybe you think this is wasteful; I say until we find a way to stop buying $10 staplers and $5,000 toasters, a few tax few months here and there while we’re on a roll never hurt anyone.

In addition to this, the Navy has also quantified how much I miss my husband and how much it sucks for us to be apart at the whopping total of $250 per month. Sorry Dan, I promise I miss you more than that, but Uncle Sam says I can only miss you $250 worth each month; that’s less than $10 a day, but luckily it is enough to buy sufficient Yogurtland each day to wallow in and think about how much you miss me too. Enjoy your yogurt ☺

Additionally, we get a sweet little extra hand-out for hazardous duty pay and what I learned today that is known as “hostile fire and imminent danger pay.” Yes, you heard that right. I’m not sure if I should be grateful or downright terrified. Intrigued, as I had never heard of said phrase, I decided to google it.

According to the Department of Defense website, “hostile fire and imminent danger pay” is defined as:

A member of a uniformed service may be entitled to Hostile Fire and Imminent Danger pay for any month in which he/she was entitled to basic pay and in which he/she was:

* Subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;
* On duty in an area in which he was in imminent danger of being exposed to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines and in which, during the period he was on duty in that area, other members of the uniformed services were subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;
* Killed, injured, or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a hostile mine, or any other hostile action; or
* On duty in a foreign area in which he was subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger on the basis of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism, or wartime conditions.

Don’t worry Mom, it’s really not that bad over here. I think they give us this because until they started stationing Sailors on ABOT, they didn’t have a “living on a 40 year old structure that hasn’t been surveyed by qualified engineers in like 39 years, made entirely of bent, melted rust that is about to crumble into the ocean with a bunch of sketchy people while you breathe in oil fumes 24 hours a day duty pay”- apparently, this is the best thing they could equate it to. And for your information, Uncle Sam gives me more for missing Dan ☺

Alright, so now you’re wondering “where do I sign up for ABOT?” (or at least Gaby is ☺ )

Well now would be a good time to show some pictures to illustrate the luxurious living conditions at Hotel ABOT. Basically, we live in what we call CLU’s (pronounced "clues") which stands for Compartmentalized Living Unit. It is a connex box or what you would see on a big shipping merchant ship that carries containers (like the ones that are lifted up and down by the big cranes that you see at the Port of Baltimore, or wherever).

Up to four people can live in a CLU, we have 4 right now because our intell officer is in the process of turning over and we have a girl from NAVCENT here for a few days for some meetings, but normally it will just be me and Nicole. They put two CLU’s next to one another and stack them 3 high- that’s what makes up our little “dorm-like” building. The insides are not glamorous, in fact, whatever designer recommended the faux wooden-laminate walls should be fired.

The beds are bigger than on a ship, but the mattresses are super uncomfortable. The CLUs are all covered in that Vietnam-style textured camouflaged jungle-y looking stuff. I guess for shade? I have no idea?

I have included a few pictures of these CLU’s. The one from far away is a view of the catwalk leading from where we work to P-4 (platform 4) where we have our CLU, our bathroom (which involves a trip down a flight of stairs, across some metal grates, over a few pipes and across some slabs of wood that make up more grating- so easy and graceful in wet rubber flip-flops to the shower--- NOT!), the DFAC (where we eat) and some other stuff. By the way, our bathroom is two CLU’s stacked on top of one another, the bottom is the toilets and the top one is the showers.

WANTED!

I have noticed a trend of horrific, bloody violence on ABOT. It is unavoidable, dangerous, and scary.

The suspect?

















These boots are WANTED in the gruesome torture and unrelenting pain that they inflict on the feet of anyone who occupies them.

Their modus operandi includes blisters, bleeding and swollen heels; resulting in Exhibit A and a hilarious limp for anyone who is plagued with such destruction:














Yeah, it's that bad. Apparently it gets better in a few weeks. Great- I'm looking forward to the long days of walking back and forth down the catwalks and up and down the stairs with these instruments of torture.

Anyways. I survived my first day on ABOT! I have to tell you, I think it beats the heck out of being on a ship! Mainly because we have a set watchbill which means you stand the same watch every day. I was blessed with the noon-6pm watch which gives me plenty of time to sleep, work out, blog and skype in the evening and get my work done during the morning.

I stood my first watch today in the TOC (remember, that's tactical operations center) with the STWO (staff tactical watch officer), which is what I am training to become. It looks like they would like me to qualify by the end of the week because 2 of our LT's are leaving for Umm Quasr, the Iraqi Naval Base from which we are training a lot of the Iraqi Navy (in addition to the ones stationed out here on ABOT) to work on their training plan so I have to take over one of the watch sections. It was a VERY exciting watch and I really enjoy it. One- because it is air conditioned (actually, it's quite chilly in the TOC!) and two because you can sit down :)

I feel like I have learned more in 6 hours today than I did at 2 weeks of STWO school. Everything we are doing is SO tactical, real-time, and fast paced. For the first time in my Navy "career" (you know, all 2 1/2 years of it.... :) I feel like I am doing something actually related to the mission. And a cool mission at that.

I really wanted to show some pictures of ABOT or maybe discuss my love for the only thing I like here more than Skype--- the FOOD! but alas it is late and I am very sleepy and my watch ran late today so I didn't get a time to take any photos before the sun went down. We are in the eastern portion of this time zone and also do not observe daylight savings time so it gets sunny here around 5:30AM but when I finally got out of my almost 7 hour watch at 6:47, it was pitch black out. We did get to watch the sunset on one of our cameras that surveys the terminal and it was very nice, although the sand storms coming in from the desert have made the horizon very difficult to see.

I will hopefully get a chance tomorrow to write more about life on here, but til then- goodnight!

And Gaby- ABOT is great and all to live on, but it would make for a VERY unexciting Tiger Cruise- the NIMITZ will be WAY cooler from a Tiger perspective :)

Educate Yourself on ABOT

Here are some interesting links & video clips.

Aerial Footage of ABOT
When you watch this, if you look carefully, you can discern the tankers that are there refueling. That is not really "part" of ABOT, we don't go on that part. If you take away the tankers, you can see the catwalks in the middle- that is the portion, the catwalks leading to the small platforms in the middle that we reside on.

America's North Shore Journal article

NPR article on ABOT

Well, that's all that I could find of interest.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments or anything that you would like me to answer or discuss more (security permitting), just leave a comment and I will address during my next post. I will soon run out of things to talk about once I illustrate life on ABOT so helping to give me topics to write about will greatly help me keep the blog going!

Home Sweet Home, sorta...

So, where to begin. Alright, well, after my last post, we got a pre-flight brief from one of the pilots. Basically the skinny was, if we crash in the water, wait til the plane finishes spinning around, then punch out the window and swim out. Then pull the little beaded handles and your life vest will inflate.

Luckily, we didn’t have to use it since the crash course was probably less than completely sufficient. We boarded the helo and took off, en route to the John Paul Jones. It was a pretty long flight, just over 2 hours. It actually wasn’t hot because the doors were open (luckily, not the one next to me because I was terrified of falling out!) The lift-off part was pretty cool (shown left), as was seeing Bahrain from the sky. The “Kingdom” is basically building out from their country into the ocean, sort of like what Dubai is doing. You can also see from the pictures that the water is BEAUTIFUL.










Then we landed on the USS John Paul Jones for a quick stop over. (Flight Deck landing shown below). I ran into my friend, Heather Koerner, who I went to UVA with- we were both midshipman in the NROTC Unit. When I found out last night that we were swinging by the JPJ, I sent her a facebook message and luckily she saw it and was there to meet us. It was SO nice to see a familiar face there, she helped us with our bags (all 300 lbs + of them!) and then we had a snack in the Wardroom, changed into our cammies and headed to the RHIB!

The seas weren’t too terrible, but definitely not the smoothest. We loaded all 8 of our bags and 5 boxes of mail into the small, 18 ft RHIB. The coxswain drove the RHIB like he stole it and we sped off to ABOT. You can see a photo here of ABOT from the JPJ. My knees & legs are all bruised though, we kept coming WAY high out of the water and then crashing down- water spraying EVERYWHERE!

I desperately wanted to take pictures but we were going SO fast that if I had even TRIED to remove one hand from the white knuckle grip of death that I had on the RHIB, both me and my new camera would have gone overboard. We arrived at ABOT at the very bottom and climbed a latter up to the main deck. We also slowly dragged all 300 lbs of our gear up there too. Here is a picture of ABOT sweet ABOT from the JPJ.

ABOT is a crazy, weird, strangely awesome place. I don’t have time to talk ALL about it; the post would go on forever! I will focus the next few days on the different aspects including food, lay-out, who’s here and what we’re doing.

For now, I will just briefly say that it is a large off-shore oil distributing terminal. The oil is produced in Iraq and sent via underground pipes to ABOT. ~$100 million of oil flows through ABOT each day, and the terminal can support 4 HUGE tankers refueling at a time. The oil also makes up 80% of Iraq’s GDP.

So who’s here? Currently there are 100 SOC (Southern Oil Company) workers. They work on the north-west portion of the terminal. That’s where they work, eat, live, etc. They only come over to our side to play basketball and rig up any ships on the part of the terminal that we occupy. Over on that side there are also about 50 Iraqi security force personnel. Right now we are working to train them to defend the platform themselves. The terminal is obviously of great strategic importance in the region- we really feel like we are at the epicenter of Middle East strategic planning. It’s kind of a cool feeling. We also have about 50 Maritime Expeditionary Security Forces; these guys (and a few gals) are mostly reservists, serving out of Kuwait Naval Base. They are super gung-ho, love being out here and very nice people. They are the ones that do the roving security watch. They patrol the terminal and are responsible for the point-defense of the terminal. There are also approximately 30 SeaBees (navy engineers), committed to helping “rebuild” the terminal to make it safe. Bless these guys, but it would take a decent size Army to make this terminal actually safe. The CDR who heads up the SeaBees, we call him the “Mayor” because he “runs the city” so to speak.

Then there is the DESRON, 22 of us committed to keeping the waters around the terminal clear, getting and keeping the maritime picture and disseminating information to the task group of ships who are supporting the mission. Mostly officers, a few very talented and specialized enlisted and I am one of the most junior officers. There are a few other LTJG’s but they are mostly LDO’s. There are currently 6 women on the terminal. Myself and Nicole are 2 of the officers, plus the girl Alexi that Nicole is relieving. Then there are 2 female enlisted Sailors on the DESRON and one here with the security force. However, Alexi is leaving soon, which is sad because she is very sweet and has been SUCH a help to us.

We spent the afternoon touring the platform (I will take pictures tomorrow and explain what living here is like), meeting the CSO (Chief Staff Officer) and the Commodore. The Commodore is the Captain of the DESRON. They were both very welcoming and made me very excited about my job here. It does however sound like it will be a lot of work which is fine, except for the fact that I have NO training or background in being a Training Officer and unfortunately since I did not go to school for this, nor am I getting a face to face turnover with the guy I’m relieving (he left at the end of July!), I am not really certain who to ask for help. I think I might talk to my friend Heather on the JPJ & see if she can put me in touch with their TRAINO. I feel silly, a DESRON TRAINO asking a ship TRAINO for help, but I do not know a lot about my job but would like to learn. The CSO put it well tonight “That’s the thing about DESRONs, no one really knows what we’re supposed to do, we all just kinda figure it out together”

I found out that my boss, the N7 in charge of readiness will be leaving in December/January with no relief named for him yet, so I will have to take his place in the interim. He also goes into Iraq a lot to work on the training plans with the Iraqis. I am hoping that I don’t have to do that, although they said they are shying away from taking women, not because we’re not good at our jobs but because overall, as a culture, they are not quite as responsive when it comes to learning from the women. That’s fine with me, I can see enough of Iraq from here, I don’t need to get any closer ☺

Well, that’s about it for now. I can’t wait to tell you all about the food and the laundry system and show pictures of where we live and work. I definitely still wish I was at home but there is a lot about ABOT that is WAY better than a ship (blogging and skype being one of them- I LOVE talking to Dan and other family & friends everyday). You should consider skype if you don’t already have it- it’s terrific!

There is also a lot of structural integrity problems here on ABOT as a result of the Iran/Iraq tanker wars here in the 80’s which I will photograph and discuss at a later date. I will also include the links to two sites which teach you a little more about ABOT; a news paper article and a short YouTube video of a helo flying overhead- to help give you a better visual.

Well, that’s all for now folks. It’s about 10:30 here so it’s time for my nightly attempt to recover from jet-lag! Tomorrow is my first full day of work so I may not have as much time to write but I look forward to sharing some more stories, idiosyncrasies and humorous facts about life on ABOT! Love to you all


And for a sneak peek for tomorrow's description- here's a picture of P-5, This is a view from the catwalk by my room so we have to walk that REALLY long catwalk out to the buildings. Enjoy!

San Diego Sunset

I found this picture when I was uploading pics for the last blog. This was the sunset outside of our apartment over the San Diego Harbor the night before I left. At the time, we didn't know it was my last night but luckily Dan grabbed the camera and snapped this. I'm so glad he did; it is so nice to have to look at now.
If this doesn't make you want to visit, SD, I don't know what does. However, there is something wrong with the airport here and will not allow incoming flights of our family and friends until I return in the Spring. Weird, I know. Guess you'll have to wait til I get back...

... haha, just kidding. I know Dan's parents are excited to spend Thanksgiving in SD and maybe even my mom will make a trip out there- I hope you do and you enjoy these wonderful sunsets as much as we do! Love to you all :)

Currently in the airport, awaiting our helo flight to begin the long, slow journey to ABOT. We spent the morning at the Armory getting our weapons. Unfortunately, we were told we HAVE to take ammo with us (weird, I know, who brings a gun AND ammo?). The Master at Arms on duty was like "ABOT, yeah, you're going to want both"- but I think he was just exaggerating.

We just had breakfast at a little MWR snack shack here at the airport. Actually, it was pretty good; I had an omelet with green peppers, tomatoes, onion, ham and cheese. It was like an omelet you'd make at home; that and a Coke Light (in Arabic! Picture to follow!) and a bottle of water was a whopping $2.75. I love MWR prices!

We met the 2 pilots who will be flying us out. (Finally, after all those years being on a ship and all of those hours spent driving the ship during flight ops, but never being allowed for a helo ride, we get to take one! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!) They were like "umm- HOW much luggage do you have....?!"-- answer? 172 lbs for me and 157 lbs for Nicole. They were like "umm, you know there is like a 50lb limit..." to which we responded that must be a joke as they issued us more than 50 lbs EACH of CBR-D gear, battle rattle, weapons and ammo! Luckily we are both teeny tiny. Hopefully they will will fit it all.

Well, that's about it for now, hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
M

Welcome to the Kingdom of Bahrain!

... yes, that is how the flight attendants welcomed us to Bahrain, and yes, it really is a Kingdom!

Our first full, and only, day in Bahrain is slowly coming to a close. We started out early this morning on base for our 9MM re-qual. I was SUPER nervous as I hadn’t actually shot for qualification in almost a year and wasn’t sure how well I’d do. Luckily, a good eye and steady hand must have been on my side because I shot my best yet; out of 240 possible points and 180 minimum to qualify, I scored at 228, which is Expert. I was shocked because normally I don’t do as well. The “range” was actually a trailer, like you would see a big 18 wheeler on the highway. It was totally padded inside, 3 narrow shooting lanes and no air conditioning. Luckily, they said it was “cool” since it was still morning. Obviously, my definition of “cool” is still stuck in San Diego, although I’m sure it will change soon.

From there we ran around base (ok, most of the time we didn’t run, Malissa, the girl from CTF IM who was assigned to help us, had a golf car so we cruised around ☺ ) getting gear, uniforms, and supplies from the NEX. We were issued CBR-D gear, which stands for Chemical, Biological, Radiological Defense gear (aka- 25 pounds of stuff that I can barely wear fully dressed out and hopefully never will!), also, “battle rattle” which consists of a klevar vest and helmet in a lovely shade of desert camouflage. I got 3 sets of desert “cammies” and a set of desert boots. Because apparently my 2 HUGE duffels wasn’t enough--- now I have like 30 more pounds of gear to haul out to ABOT.

We stopped by the NEX where I got a new pair of sneakers and some converters for all of my electronics that I am bringing with me. Then we swung by the Armory/Security Attachment to get everything squared away to pick up our weapons tomorrow. Apparently we are issued 9MM’s to carry on ABOT, but luckily, it is not mandatory. In fact, once we finally got through the red tape of getting permission to have our weapons issued, the guy at the Armory asked us how much ammo we wanted to take and our response immediately was “None!” So, we can all sleep well knowing that I am not only not planning on carrying a weapon on ABOT but I have no intention of giving the ability for it to be loaded at any time out there. Let’s be honest, if little LTJG Laufer, the Training Officer, is using a 9MM, then something’s gone terribly wrong that cannot be solved with a 9MM. Great, just another piece of gear I have to haul out there.

We came back to the hotel when the jet lag hit us INTENSELY and despite our best intentions to go out to lunch and explore Bahrain, we settled on the Iranian restaurant in our hotel. We had a DELICIOUS, albeit expensive, tasty lunch which was much needed. I don’t think I’ll ever be hungry now! They started out with some vegetables, including some interesting leafy veggies that were a bit peppery and spicy, served with a side of tzaziki. It was good, but the garlicky tzaziki of Greece was much better. Then we ordered a dish whose name I cannot remember but it was basically like a mezze, or tapas, plate of Iranian appetizers. It included “Salad-e-shirazi” which is made exactly like Gaby’s Israelis salad, except the veggies weren’t chopped quite as finely and it was not as good as his ☺, a puree of spinach and yogurt and friend onions, a puree of olives, walnuts and pomegranates, a fried eggplant pure with onions, mint, and garlic and another eggplant puree with tomato and eggs and cilantro. It also came with a HUGE basket of warm bread, I’m not sure what it was called but it was similar to Indian Naan but a little more crispy. Everything was DELICIOUS, except I didn’t like the one with olives and walnuts. For our beverage, we had “lemon with mint” which is lemonade with REALLY fined ground mint leaves- AMAZING and so necessary in a city where 99 degrees is considered “cool.”

For our meal we had a saffron, spicy rice with marinated shrimp (it’s funny, the menu says “Gulf Shrimp,” which to me means “caught off the coast of the panhandle of Florida or perhaps New Orleans” but out here it means the Arabian Gulf!). It also had really super grilled tomatoes, green peppers and onions, and Nicole had a really spicy, dilly rice with the most tender, fall off the bone lamb I have EVER seen. It was SO MUCH FOOD. We SERIOUSLY over ordered. So we decided to continue it with some dessert. We had a dessert of frozen vermicelli noodles (like the noodles you might have in a Thai dish) but it had been scooped, maybe like the consistency of a “chunked” shaved ice, but with noodles and it was covered in a rose syrup (it is weird “eating” roses) and also with Iranian ice cream, which was saffron ice cream. It was delicious and interesting and we finished the meal off with some Iranian tea.

We justified it as it was pretty much our only “real” meal since leaving SD over 2 days ago and probably our last good one for a long time. Then, we rolled ourselves to the salon where we got pedicures. Although not as good as the ones in the US, it was still very great and only $15! They were very busy as there was a big Bahrainian wedding that night at the hotel- we saw these little girls getting their hair SUPER curled with glitter spray and women getting the most elaborate make-up done. Also interesting, the “hair salon/spa” place is women only, because I guess it is a place where women can go un-covered so no men are allowed. The lady made a comment that I “really needed a pedicure” and proceeded to spend the next 25 minutes scrubbing dead skin off my feet, which was much appreciated. She kept saying that I get a pedicure every week, I won’t have these kind of feet. I didn’t feel like explaining to her that I wouldn’t be able to get a pedicure for the next 6 months, much less every week. If we end up in Bahrain at the end of our tour on ABOT, I will be sure not to go back to her, not because she wasn’t good but because she would be so disappointed to see my feet 6 months later ☺

I have never traveled to the Middle East and the cultural differences between here and home are ASTOUNDING. We have spent most of our time on base so I haven’t gotten much chance to see it, but it is evident just from being in the hotel. What is also interesting, is that all the different countries have different traditions, etc on who has to have there head covered, who doesn’t, what the men where, etc. I suppose I should do a little research to learn more. I wish I had spent more time today exploring Bahrain but I am SO jet-lagged, I’m just trying to stay awake until an “appropriate” time to go to bed around 8pm, otherwise if I slept all day, I’d be up all night and never get over it. I also know I have many months ahead of very hot weather, a lot of work, and not as nice living conditions so I am enjoying laying in my nice, air conditioned Sheraton room, reading, and relaxing ☺ hopefully, we will get some visits on the tail end of deployment to a few cities out here.

I guess I should also explain who my new friend out here is. Her name is Nicole, and she is our new intelligence officer for the DESRON. She is 32 and has been in the Navy for about 8 years. Luckily for me (and unlucky for her), she just returned from an 8 month tour in Bahrain and did another year long tour here a few years ago so she knows her way around really well. It’s also nice because we have at least 2 things in common right now- we both have no interest in bringing a gun to ABOT and we are the only people that we know out here. She is very nice, very knowledgeable and I am so glad I know someone for these 2 days!

Tomorrow morning will be an early one and I have a feeling that our trip to ABOT will be of epic hassle. We have a van coming to pick us up at the hotel at 6am. From there, we go to the base to pick up our weapons and get our escort. Then we go to the airport where we board a helo (not sure which kind yet, one that can land on a Destroyer) out to the John Paul Jones, a DDG. From JPJ, we will ride a RHIB (small, fast boat) to ABOT where a crane will lift all hundreds of pounds of stuff and gear we have, and then we will climb a ladder up to the platform. I am very very nervous about all of my stuff getting wet- I’ve spent enough time in one of those RHIB’s to know!

Well, that’s about all I have to say for now. I am watching the awarding the of the Olympics right now and then going to order some soup and get all my gear packed up as as best I can. I will post again as soon as I’m safely on ABOT, maybe not a lot but at least to let you know that I’m there!

I included a few pictures, our luxurious accommodations at the Sheraton Bahrain, my welcome screen on my TV- it’s not bad enough that everyone is confused by the fact that I introduce myself as and my uniforms say “Laufer” yet my name is still "Harris" as far as the Navy is concerned but now apparently my gender was confused by the folks at the front desk. I think it’s because I used Dan’s SPG# ☺



Also, here is all of the gear I was given today. The green bag to the left does no justice to the fact that not only is the bag actually about as big enough to fit me, but also feels like it weighs as much as I would in the bag!

Also, here is all of my contact info:

Email- molly.p.harris@gmail.com
Skype- molly.laufer (if you get skype, we can talk for free! It’s awesome- I get to talk to Dan everyday!)
Address (packages take anywhere from 1 week to 1 month; snacks, books, magazines, holiday goodies are always welcomed and appreciated, but pictures and cards are my most favorite ☺):
LTJG Molly Laufer
Kuwait Naval Base
CTG IM/ABOT
APO/AE
09337
Phone (I won’t be able to answer this one, but it is connected to my gmail account so I can listen to voicemails and read texts via google): 619-721-3486

Alright well, I’m off to get packing. Wish us luck on our transit to ABOT and I’ll write more later!

Love,
M

Day 1. Or is it 1.5? Or 2.25?

As you can tell from this post, I am already confused by the time zone. FYI- we are 7 hours ahead of the East Coast & 10 hours ahead of the West Coast.

Alright-

Well, I could hardly make it halfway across the world when I decided that I should write something for my readers (aka- family and friends and the only people who would actually read my meandering, usually pointless stories ☺) so that I had something to post as soon as I reached internet connectivity. As I write this, we are currently flying over Bucharest, en route to Bahrain.

Luckily, the trip has been smooth so far. I read a lot from SD to Philadelphia and then had a frustrating experience on the Philadephia to Frankfurt leg. I was seated next to a German gentleman, who, despite my ridiculously stuffed-up nose and inability to taste anything, was not the freshest smelling of men. He also decided he would like to leave the arm rest between us because it “gave us more room”- or at least that’s what I think he said. See, for him, the arm rest being up does give him more room, by giving me LESS room. I really enjoy that arm rest. I have the fantastic ability to curl into a fetal ball in an airplane seat, with the help of the arm rest. The way I see it, I’m paying as much as he is, so I want all the space I’m afforded. He also struggled putting on his seatbelt and would frequently grope around the seat (and me) for it. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t every 2 hours just as I was in a deep slumber.

Regardless, I slept about 6 hours on that flight (in 2 hour increments). I had a super quick layover in Frankfurt, just enough time to go through security at the gate (my new neck pillow and pink alarm clock from Brookstone at the Philadelphia Airport drew alarming suspicious from the security folks and had to go in a little room while they swiped it with one of those explosive detecting things; luckily my clock and I were free to go soon). It cost an arm and a leg to make phone calls/use the internet on their little independent kiosks thus I did not get in touch with anyone in Frankfurt.

We have about 3 ½ hours to go til we get to Bahrain. I’ve been told that someone is meeting us at the airport and we are staying at the Sheraton Bahrain, which is in the heart of the business district. Unfortunately, we have to pay up front for it, but supposedly we will get reimbursed. I’m looking forward to using Dan’s SPG number and maybe get some points or even another upgrade- thank you US Navy!

The flight has been very smooth, we are flying Gulf Air and I have an aisle seat but no one next to me in the window. The blankets are REALLY nice- like actual fleece- teal and blue- and I’m trying to connive my way into taking it with me; I think it will add a punch of color to my room. I had a surprising good lunch of lamb and Coke Light (written in Arabic! I would have totally taken a picture but my camera is up in the overhead). I started reading this month’s Real Simple (like I need to know 5 ways to cook a chicken this month, or any month for awhile; but anyways). I was reading the section where readers write in an answer this month’s question, which was “what is home to you”- the answers were very touching and sweet and then I got to one where the woman responded with “the smell of my husband’s neck right below his ear” to which my emotions overcame me for yet a 3rd time in a 24 hour period (or maybe more or maybe less, I have no idea what time zone I’m in right now) and decided the airplane was really not the place to break into hysteric sobs so I thought I would blog instead.

I guess I should go back and explain what I am doing on a plane to Bahrain and why so emotional.

We returned to SD from our honeymoon on Saturday, completely sick, jet-lagged, and exhausted (what a way to come from a vacation, huh? But it was totally worth it and when the Groundhog’s Day of life on deployment kicks in, I’ll post a few pictures and stories from our 2 weeks of amazing-ness). I was expecting to leave shortly thereafter, probably on Wednesday 30SEP. I was prepared, until Tuesday morning when I was told it would be at LEAST 3-4 business days to process our travel requests and that meant the weekend at the soonest, if not later. So we made grand plans- wine tasting north in Temeculah, brunch at the Hotel del Coronado with Rachel & Billy; all kinds of fun things. Then, Wednesday morning, at 7:45 when I was driving on base for my morning check-in, I got a phone call from the navy travel folks who said they had processed my travel itinerary the night before and that I was scheduled to leave at 11:15 out of San Diego THAT VERY DAY. Apparently, they had sent the itinerary over 12 hours earlier, to the wrong person,another LT Harris, who they had processed some 2 months ago. Awesome. After the initial freak-out, I quickly worked backwards and realized that meant I had to be at the airport in 1 ½ hours. Even more awesome.

After a freak-out phone call with Dan who immediately went into overdrive to get me everything I hadn’t gotten yet (because I thought I had 3-4 more days; thank goodness for the Rite Aid in our building!), I hurriedly finished packing. I threw a bunch of stuff in 2 boxes labeled “ABOT” and “NIMITZ” to be mailed at a later date and then we headed to the airport. It was one of the most emotional, tearful goodbyes I’ve ever had, probably because of the fact that it happened so soon, and while I knew I was leaving, my mind went through the emotional cycle of deploying like 2 times and yet I was still caught off guard.

Regardless, here I am now, closer to the Gulf and farther from home. I have a few days in Bahrain to get a bunch of gear, get my weapons quals updated, pick up some desert cammies and then we’re boarding a helo on Saturday for the oil terminal. (Dan thinks it’s really cool I’m going to ride a helo from the desert to the middle of the ocean so I will be sure to take lots of pictures).

Well, I could probably write more but then what would I write about for the next 6-months of my life ☺ I will include our address out there, I’ve been told stuff takes anywhere from a week to a month to get here but given that we will be gone for 4-5 major holidays (for yet a 2nd year in a row…) anything sent will be most appreciated, if not by me then by someone out here.

This is a much different feeling from any deployment I’ve ever done. It is scary flying all the way out here to meet the people you will live/work with for a long time. It is scary not knowing my job or what to expect. I’m nervous about the heat and the boredom and that people won’t like me. It’s hard leaving a place that is still new to me and my new husband only 2 ½ weeks after the wedding.

On the plus side, I am hoping to score some great Persian rugs in the Gulf to send back home. That, and looking forward to a few extra months of tax-free and family separation pay. Hey, you gotta look at the positives right? 6 months isn’t going anywhere so we’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got. That and the 1,400 wedding pictures I will get to look at all the time ☺

As soon as I am set up on the Oplat (Oil Platform) or ABOT as we call it, (Al Basrah Oil Terminal), I will let you all know. I will have email, facebook, skype, g-chat, you name it.

I miss everyone very dearly and look forward to sharing some hopefully exciting stories over the next 3 months.

Love,
Molly