After a memorable vacation to visit my sister and her family in the United Kingdom, I’m then on my way back to Iraq. The duration of the flight is about a 6 1/2 hour trip back to Kuwait International Airport from London. Once I had landed, I then went to my company office located inside the terminal, in order to sign in and then get a bus ride back to my residence at the El Joan in Juliah, Kuwait where I would spend the night. That morning, I had to go in early and then report to the Security office on Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. From there, I took still another bus to a US military airport in Northern Iraq at Al Salem AB.

Once on the airfield, I was pointed in the direction of the C130 Transport plane that I was to board. Could that be the right plane, I thought to myself! It was a light blue plane with a red circle on the side. It didn’t look like an American airplane. It wasn’t! It was a Japanese Air force Plane! Even the crew was Japanese.

Now, this is going to be an experience, I thought. It is pretty nice that the Japanese who we fought during WWII are now helping us here in Iraq. I also thought about my dad who fought in the Pacific Theater way back then and imagined that he would probably be rolling over in his grave being an ex-marine and just seeing me boarding this plane. Now, all the Japanese people that I have known, and there have been a few, have always been very kind and thoughtful. I spent 13 months in Okinawa a few years back as a member of the military and my sister in law, Minako from Osaka, also is a real sweetie that can’t do enough for you. I’m John san to her. I will say that it was a very smooth takeoff and landing. They were good pilots. The C130 transport planes have been around for quite a while and are still very reliable.

One other thing was a bit different about the trip back to Iraq this time. The plane had to make a number of stops before I would return to Cedar. It would take quite a while before I got back to my duty station. That plane had to go all the way to Northern Iraq and back down south again, always in perfect sight of the ground. I was sort of wondering what could happen if we had enemy fire from the ground. Nothing happened, though and I was fortunate to have observed my first great view of Iraq from the air. Those two beautiful rivers as they come together, The Euphrates and The Tigris are quite a sight to behold. The Garden of Eden was also said to be located where these great rivers diverged. I had also heard that the rivers had changed course over the centuries so this had to be factored in.

The airplane, eventually landed in Mosul and then a while later, it landed in Baghdad. They had to let out soldiers, supplies and equipment at each stop and then took on additional troops, other contractors as well as more supplies. I finally landed at Tilil AB quite a few hours later in the day. From there, I took a bus to my base in nearby Cedar, Iraq. My vehicle, the Suburban was now waiting for me with a two inch thickness of mud. The workday had nearly begun, as I had to work the night shift that night. At the time, shifts were 13-14 hours per day. By the time I finished my shift, that sleeping bag back at my tent was a welcome sight. I was back at Cedar but I wouldn’t be there much longer so I was to find out.