First day

Just completed the first day of travel for my deployment. Going good so far, currently still in the states, staying in billeting (a motel) at Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.

Said good bye to Jenee' in the morning (miss you already!) and then went to the base to meet with my deployment manager who would take me to the airport (I had to be taken by him in a government vehicle because you can't transport government weapons unless it's in a government vehicle). Stopped at Wal-Mart on the way to buy some padlocks to put on my weapon case. Here is a picture of the Wal-Mart. I know it is super interesting, try not to fill up my blog with comments about how interesting it is so far though.



Then we arrived at the airport where I checked in all my bags. I had to open up my weapon case so the ticket agent could put some paperwork in there then take it to a special security checkpoint where they inspected it, then a man took it away and put it on the plane. The commander and director of operations for my squadron and one of my crew commanders came to see me off, which was nice. They brought me a goody bag with snacks for the plane ride. Went through the speedy security line since I was in uniform but unfortunately didn't save that much time as there wasn't much of a line even for the regular people. It would have been more fun if I had gotten to skip past all those regular suckers. Also, going through security is annoying when you are wearing boots and have to take them off and put them back on. It takes a while. Went to the gate and saw a new Airman Basic there in his blues on his way to tech school. The others in my group showed up and we all talked to the new guy for a while. Interesting that I was in the same position almost 2 years ago. One of the guys in my group knew one of the ticket agents at the gate, so he got us all upgraded to first class! It was my first time flying first class and was pretty nice. The extra leg room is greatly appreciated for a person my size. I even got the little hot towels to wash my hands with before the snacks. Here I am in first class on that flight.



Then we flew to our first destination where we had a layover which was longer than expected due to the plane we were waiting on being diverted due to a medical emergency on board. While waiting during the layover I was called up to the ticket counter and was upgraded to first class again! This time it was only me and not the whole group. However once on board there was an empty seat in first class still so they invited one of the guys I was traveling with to come up. There were two Navy guys in first class as well. It was nice of the airlines to upgrade military members to fill seats. So needless to say, my two flights today were quite comfortable!



Arrived at Norfolk airport where we collected our baggage and had to take a taxi to the Naval base because the shuttle bus had already stopped running. Learned that taxis are expensive and prone to be dishonest. We took two separate taxis and after meeting back up with our other group learned that our taxi driver had taken us on the "scenic route" of the base which ended up costing about $20 more than the other guys paid. Oh well, the government is paying for it, not me. But, he did take us by the coast and we got to see all of the battleships and aircraft carriers in port here, which are extremely impressive. I had no idea those ships were so big, they look like sky scrapers floating in the water. Perhaps tomorrow we'll have time to go back and see them and maybe take some pictures in the daylight.



Checked our baggage and weapons in at the air terminal on base for our flight tomorrow and took a shuttle to our lodging for the night after a quick detour off base to get some food. The lodging is nice, it used to be Officers quarters and is now just a lodging facility. Only $25 a night (billed to the government for this trip of course) but these facilities can be used for any purpose if there is space available I think, which makes traveling and staying in a hotel quite affordable if there is a base around.





Multiple people throughout the trip would come up and thank us for our service, which was nice to see. At least some people have learned that even if they don't agree with the war they should still support the troops. Also saw multiple other military members traveling in uniform today. Norfolk is evidently a major military city so there were especially a lot of military members in the airport there even at the slow evening time period. The Navy base here is huge, even from the little I saw tonight in the dark. It makes my little base back home feel very small and insignificant in comparison. Hopefully I'll get to see a bit more of it tomorrow, in the day light!