In Kuwait

So the plane left at 2000(8:00pm) Eastern Time. We stopped in Shannon Ireland for about an hour, and we landed in Kuwait City at 2000(8:00pm) Kuwaiti time on the second of February. After we deplaned we sat in buses on the tarmac waiting for the baggage detail to unload the plane. But they had to wait until the fuel truck disconnected from the plane. So the buses took us to a staging area with water and porta-potties - YEAH!! We finally left the airport at around 2200(10pm) on our way to Army LSA Ali Al Saleem. We swiped out ID cards in (now my pay is tax-free and I am getting extra combat pay) and were briefed about the rules on the LSA. We then signed up for Space-R. Space-R is an interesting thing, we signed up and our names were put at the bottom of the list. but whenever an R&R flight came in we were bumped down on the list. Evidently their computer system was messing up as we later found out. There are 4 categories of people trying to get on flights. Groups of soldiers on ULNs (Unit Line Numbers), Space Blocked soldiers and civilians, people returning from R&R, and people getting into country for the first time - like us. But usually groups of 20 soldiers - like us - have ULNs and get out on the very next flight. But not us. I found out later that we had something like that and were supposed to fly through Manis (in Tajikistan) but some leader decided that wouldn't work for him. So here we are on day 6 and we finally have a ULN because our LNO(Liaison) is tired of looking at us. Yeah for persistence!! So we will be on the next passenger flight out of here, assuming that one is not reconfigured...

Finally Goin'

Well here I am at the Atlanta Airport waiting on the flight to Kuwait. I woke up this morning at 3 am to be ready by 430. The bus left at 5 am and we got to ATL at 2pm(Eastern time) we needed to be at the airport by 2 to check in for the flight. but the flight doesn't leave until 8pm. So we have been waiting. Luckily there is a USO here and there were Hooters Girls there for the pre Superbowl party. The USO volunteers were giving out raffle tickets for phones, t-shirts and caps. The guy across from me had 3 tickets, he was close quite a few times, then he won a phone(a go phone). They called a few more numbers and another one of his tickets came up, so he gave me his second winning ticket and now I have a free go phone that I won't be able to use for a year. Hopefully the minutes won't expire before I can use them. I might give it to one of the soldiers getting off of the Kuwait shuttle plane we are about to get on.
We are in the international terminal, so the running joke is every time we hear a boarding announcement some one asks ooh, you wanna go there instead?! Of course we want to go somewhere else. But we might get into trouble. On the up side there shouldn't be any small children crying on this flight :)
My bags weighed about 185 lbs. I can barely get my rucksack off of the ground. But I packed according to the packing list, so it is not my problem. My next update will hopefully be from Afghanistan, and will include an address!