At Ali Al Salem airbase, Kuwait

I said goodbye to my family on Monday night, and headed down to LAX.  My uncle Akio let me stay at his place, and we woke up at 4Am in order for him to take me to catch my 6AM flight to Dallas, TX (3 hour flight).  From there, we caught the charter flight on [...]

So Much to Do, So Little Time

I’ve enjoyed my 15 days of leave.  Tonight is my last night in the US.  I have to fly back to Iraq tomorrow.  It will be sad to leave.  But on the bright side, when I get back I’ll have about 90 days left before I return home for good! 
 In my last post, we were [...]

The Trip Home from Iraq to California for 15 days R&R Leave

When you spend a year in Iraq, you get to take 15 days to come home for leave.  The government flies you home at no charge to the soldier.  For months, I’ve planned my leave so that I could come home in time for my daughter Rebecca’s 4th birthday, which was June 7, 2009.  This [...]

Coming Home on Leave

I am flying home today!!  We fly from Balad, Iraq, to Kuwait (hour and a half flight).  Then get on a military charter to Leipzig Germany (6 hour flight) and on to Dallas Texas (11 hour flight), where I get on a regular airline to LAX (a bit over 3 hours).  Including stop-overs, it is a [...]

The Joint Base Balad Plastic Model Club

Joint Base Balad (JBB), is about 60 miles north of Baghdad. It’s the busiest military airport in the world, and the second largest airport in the entire world. It has a population of 30,000 people, military and civilian. JBB is a key logistical hub for the Iraq theater of operations. Almost everything comes into or [...]