Arrival

Well, it’s been a wild week or so..  Let’s catch up.

 

The flight from JFK to Dubai was uneventful, but the ride was nice.  Emirates Airlines has an awesome fleet of 777-300ERs that have great in-flight entertainment.  Movies, TV, music, and you can even view cameras installed in the nose and underside of the plane.   How cool is that?

The Dubai International Airport in the UAE is easily the most gorgeous airport I’ve ever seen.   Hotels could take lessons on decorating their lobbies; it’s that nice.   A quick trip through immigration and customs and just like that, I was in the Middle East.    After a short night at the airport hotel, it was back to the terminal to head to Iraq.

The flight was on the former Iraqi Airways, now quasi-called Jupiter Airlines.   I have no idea where the name came from, and it doesn’t appear at the airport or even at the ticket counter.   It was, however, on the ticket, and I guess that’s all that really matters.  

The flight was an uneventful 2 1/2 hours.  We landed at Mosul Airport and went into immigration.   First word of advice: Have copies of ALL of your paperwork; passport front page, LOA (military Letter of Authorization), and your DOD ID card (“CAC card”).    Not having these caused heartburn as we were delayed for 30 minutes until we figured out that they wanted photocopies.  Fortunately, one of the airport offices made copies, and were were processed.  All in all, they were very nice, and we all shook hands at the end of the ordeal process.   I was even psuedo-renamed Yosef by the group.  

We were met by a company rep and brought over to COS Marez.   We went to the dining hall – which was the first shocker.   The dining hall (called the “DFAC”), surpasses many a company cafeteria back in the States.    The DFAC suicide bombing here in 2004 has ratcheted up security, so I am not able to get pictures of the place – but I was literally slack-jawed.   I was not expecting hot, fresh, and downright GOOD food.   The meal choices are varied – fish, chicken, tacos, pasta, salad, fruit, burgers (cooked to order!), etc, etc, etc.    And since it is an all-you-can-eat buffet each time, you really have to be careful that you do not gorge yourself to the point that your distended stomach becomes lodged under the table.  

The second surprise was the PX.   I was expecting it to have a few basic necessities and to be out of stock a lot based on the reading I had done.   I could not have been more wrong.   The PX has all the best stuff from military clothing sales and the Commissary, plus PX stuff like stereos, computers, and iPods.    I quickly realized that I won’t need to have much sent from home.   The two things I could NOT find: Good bug spray and clear, spray-on sunscreen.   Everything else, thus far….  Done.

So now, on to learning the job…