Not quite "downrange"...yet. Four more days until I leave.

Chevy Chase, MD:

OK, this is "take two" on the downrange thing (BTW, "downrange" is a euphemism among military types of being deployed, mostly to hot, dry places like Iraq, Afghanistan, or Kuwait).

I was supposed to leave last August around the time of the Afghan elections, which coincided with the US taking over medical/hospital duties from our NATO allies.  For reasons still unclear to me, I never left on 10 Aug, but found out this past November that I would be heading out on MLK day.

Then the Haiti tragedy happened and my departure date was pushed back by a week, but no worries.  I'm clearly about to leave, orders in hand and bags packed.

I should point out that even though I will leave in a few days, I won't arrive in Afghanistan until early March.  I will depart from here, go via civilian airlines to Norfolk, VA to the Navy liaison folks where I will be issued Army uniforms and eventually work with non-US NATO forces (and US forces as well) - it's quite a mish-mash.  After my one week in Norfolk I will head to an Army base in Washington state to do "Stripes"-like (that was a movie with Bill Murray a few decades ago, young'uns, wikipedia it!) boot camp, complete with shooting lots of guns and getting lots of powerpoint lectures.  Four weeks of that.

                                                                                  








I will update the daisy-chain of events that culminate with my arrival to Afghanistan around the Ides of March.  Et Tu Brute? 

Here are some images of the precious cargo I am leaving behind (Sarah, Sophia, Helen, and Zoe) -- this is the hardest part of deploying, really.

- TMQ, 20 Jan 2010


P.S. Random factoid of the day about being stationed downrange.  You are unauthorized to bring UnderArmour underwear... in the case of fire it would have to be surgically removed.  There's a visual you could do without.  I'll try to pick less-gross random factoids from here on out.