We're Not in Kuwait Anymore, Toto.

All right. Here it is! My very first blog entry from Iraq. I'll give you a moment to get over the excitement...

OK, that should be plenty of time.

In order to get to Basra, my flight took me via Continental to Manila, then Gulf Air to Bahrain and on to Kuwait City. We then got the joy of riding an Air Force cargo plane into Iraq. Fun times, to be sure. The biggest highlight of my flight was that I got bumped up to First Class by Continental for my 4-hour trip to the Phillipines. No, they didn't do that out of the goodness of their hearts for a deploying serviceman (if they did that in Guam, the entire plane would be in First (or Japanese)). I got the bump because I flew around enough last year to earn Elite status in their frequent flyer program. I'm not going to complain though. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could get me bumped up on the 10-hour flight to Bahrain. I think the Gulf Air agents took pity on my pathetic begging, however, because I did end up sitting by myself in the center 4 seats of the jumbo. As soon as the Seat Belt sign went off, the armrests went vertical and I went horizontal. Of course it took all four of those little airplane pillows to support my head, but I made it work.

So I arrived here last Wednesday. The first thing that I realized is that Basra is a lot different from Kuwait. There are only about 40 miles from here to there as the crow flies, but the bases are worlds apart. Camp Beuhring was a much more established base. Most of the buildings were still temporary trailers, but they were trailers. Here is pretty much all tents. There are some hard structures, but they're relatively sparse. The floors in our tents are made from plastic tiles laid out over packed dirt. This definitely feels more like a combat zone than it did down south, and I guess it is. We are required to carry our 9mm pistols everywhere we go on base. I mean everywhere. If I'm not in my tent, I'm armed.

That's certainly not to say that this place doesn't have it's advantages. Sure, there's no Taco Bell or Burger King like on Beuhring, but there really isn't a need for it. Everywhere on the base has refrigerators full of Water, Gatorade and soda that's free for the taking. There are also candy, jerky, chips and other snack foods in case I get hungry in between meals. The meals are an event in themselves. Good food and large portions. It will take a lot of self-discipline to not weigh 400 pounds when I leave here. Thankfully there are also about 30 gyms to aid in that goal.

I got to fly for the first time out here yesterday. The flying is still just as enjoyable as I remember. We have to be a bit more vigilant when we fly here because there are still people nearby who would love to cause us to have a bad day, but that's what we train for.

Tricia says that a lot of people have been asking what we need out here and the truth is that I can't really think of anything. I know that doesn't help, but like I said, there are snacks everywhere. Movies are all over for the watching. There are even quite a few books. I also can't really accept things for the Iraqi kids because I will most likely not be leaving the base. Just your prayers and thoughts will be plenty for me.

Well, there you have it. My tour of Iraq has begun. I'll be sure to keep you updated.