Military travel, not for the faint of heart....

I knew that the first really physically challenging task of this deployment would be the RSOI. RSOI stands for reception, staging, onward movement and integration. It was probably better that I didn’t know exactly HOW challenging it would be.

Let me try to explain without giving away our OPSEC…. We’re trying to move our entire team from the US to our final destination in Afghanistan. We began this operation on Good Friday morning. It took us until Easter Monday to arrive at our final destination. It was 52 hours until we had our first opportunity to shower, change undies and nap horizontally. Then another 18 hours to arrive at our compound.

It took 5 aircraft hops, two on a commercial airline and three on military transport and numerous bus trips. Walking into the bowels of a C-17 aircraft made me feel like I was Jonah entering the whale’s stomach. My final ride was in the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle through the streets of Kabul. It was surreal, to say the least.

At each transition point, you have to unload your bags, store them, arrange your next leg of travel, find food and latrines (if there’s time) and reload your bags on the new flight. Mind you, I travelled pretty light: 1 heavy duffle bag, 2 light bags, a backpack, 2 weapons, 30 lbs of body armor and a helmet. I am not strong enough to carry any of this (including my body armor) by hand, so every time I move, I have to wear the armor on my torso, then sling weapons, duffles, etc on my back. And the weapons are NEVER left behind, so they go back and forth with every trip.

Mix in sleep deprivation, lack of decent meals, very hot climate and disorientation and you’re talking about a lot more than your average daily stress.  I literally felt myself digging deep into an untapped well of patience and endurance to make it here.

So that’s the trip. Rest assured, I am in a very safe compound, recovering from the jet-lag and climate change and will blog more about that soon.