Three flights and 11 hours after leaving Ithaca I made it to our rendezvous spot in Charleston, SC, the Sheraton North, and met two of my three team members: Navy Lt. Corey Schultz of CENTCOM, who did an absolutely wonderful job organizing the trip stateside and who will now accompany us to and around Iraq, and Dave Kelso, classic rock DJ extraordinaire at KRXO in Oklahoma City.
We shared dinner in the hotel restaurant, and I rolled tape [as you'll see the lighting was dim but the stories were good enough to justify sharing less-than-perfect footage with you]. In this montage, Corey explains the reason behind our middle-of-the-night flight schedule, and Dave tells a moving story from a previous trip to Iraq.
Watch video here.
In about three hours we'll be heading out to the Charleston AFB. Next stop: Spain!
PS: empty-bottle story notwithstanding, Corey assures us that our C-5 is equipped with the world-class heads.
UPDATE: 11/08 3 AM, Charleston AFB: The hotel wake-up call system didn't work, so I was awoken with a call from from Lt. Schultz from the lobby at 1:05 AM - where I should have been at the time. I kicked myself but did get down in 5 minutes. When we got to the AFB we were told the flight was full and we could be looking at Saturday for the next departure. Somehow things changed and we have been issued boarding passes. Still holding breath till wheels up.
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
