Fast and furious weekend
I had the opportunity last weekend to travel to Qatar with a senior colonel from our command to pick up two professors from the National Defense University and accompany them to Kabul to teach a three-day symposium for key staff, Coalition and others.
We left Kabul Friday and flew to our airbase via Blackhawk helicopters. Then we boarded a C-130 transport plane for a six hour flight to Qatar. We arrived in Qatar around 1 a.m. and finally got into rooms at the CENTCOM base there around 3 a.m.
I drug myself out of bed around 10 a.m. and headed over to the CENTCOM Forward Public Affairs Office to do a little business. This particular base housed General Tommy Franks' operations during the invasion of Iraq and now houses some of the CENTCOM Forward operations. It's also an R & R center for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a large pool and spa, a handful of American restaurants, a large PX, several gyms and a couple of bars/nightclubs. Troops can go there on a 4-day pass once during their tour. But other than those amenities, the base is nothing but gravel and concrete. As with much of the surrounding area, there is almost no vegetation.
The weather was beautiful -- 70s during the day and 50s at night.
Around 4 p.m. we changed into civilian clothes and headed to downtown Doha, Qatar for a good meal and to pick up the professors at the airport. We chose to eat at the Marriott Hotel near the airport. It's on the Gulf of Arabia and we were able to enjoy a wonderful dinner while watching the sun set. That will be one of the enduring memories of my trip. It was beautiful.
We picked up our guests at the airport and headed back to the base to get them into rooms for the night. We had snacks at the little Chili's restaurant on base by the pool and also enjoyed a couple glasses of wine at the "Oasis" nightclub before turning in for the evening.
The next morning we met up for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. with another group of VIPs to head back to the airfield for our C-130 flight back to Afghanistan. This trip, although fast and furious, was much nicer than my first time through Qatar last summer. VIPs are afforded many more comforts and conveniences than us lowly staff officers and enlisted folks! We were driven around in nice SUVs and were greeted at the airfield by Airmen who carried our bags and offered us coffee in a nice, plush VIP lounge. We didn't have to arrive until 15 minutes before our flight and were shown right to our seats on the plane.
I kept thinking back to my first trip through Qatar on my way to Afghanistan last summer. I was herded with other "regular people" like cattle, moving from one line to the next, sitting for hours in a sweltering clamshell tent they called a PAX terminal hoping to get manifested on a flight, getting "bumped" because some general officer showed up with 14 strap-hangars taking up all the seats, riding in a non-airconditioned bus in the blistering sun to the farthest reaches of the tarmac where the plane sat, while all the time schlepping 250 lbs of duffle bags in 125 heat. It pays to travel with colonels!
In all we were probably on the ground in Qatar around 36 hours, but it was an awesome trip. As we departed Qatar I was afforded the opportunity to sit up in the cockpit with the pilots. It was an awesome view.
We arrived back in Afghanistan about six hours later where we once again caught a helicopter back to Kabul. I love flying in helicopters and got some great photos. I hope you enjoy them.
We left Kabul Friday and flew to our airbase via Blackhawk helicopters. Then we boarded a C-130 transport plane for a six hour flight to Qatar. We arrived in Qatar around 1 a.m. and finally got into rooms at the CENTCOM base there around 3 a.m.
I drug myself out of bed around 10 a.m. and headed over to the CENTCOM Forward Public Affairs Office to do a little business. This particular base housed General Tommy Franks' operations during the invasion of Iraq and now houses some of the CENTCOM Forward operations. It's also an R & R center for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a large pool and spa, a handful of American restaurants, a large PX, several gyms and a couple of bars/nightclubs. Troops can go there on a 4-day pass once during their tour. But other than those amenities, the base is nothing but gravel and concrete. As with much of the surrounding area, there is almost no vegetation.
The weather was beautiful -- 70s during the day and 50s at night.
Around 4 p.m. we changed into civilian clothes and headed to downtown Doha, Qatar for a good meal and to pick up the professors at the airport. We chose to eat at the Marriott Hotel near the airport. It's on the Gulf of Arabia and we were able to enjoy a wonderful dinner while watching the sun set. That will be one of the enduring memories of my trip. It was beautiful.
We picked up our guests at the airport and headed back to the base to get them into rooms for the night. We had snacks at the little Chili's restaurant on base by the pool and also enjoyed a couple glasses of wine at the "Oasis" nightclub before turning in for the evening.
The next morning we met up for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. with another group of VIPs to head back to the airfield for our C-130 flight back to Afghanistan. This trip, although fast and furious, was much nicer than my first time through Qatar last summer. VIPs are afforded many more comforts and conveniences than us lowly staff officers and enlisted folks! We were driven around in nice SUVs and were greeted at the airfield by Airmen who carried our bags and offered us coffee in a nice, plush VIP lounge. We didn't have to arrive until 15 minutes before our flight and were shown right to our seats on the plane.
I kept thinking back to my first trip through Qatar on my way to Afghanistan last summer. I was herded with other "regular people" like cattle, moving from one line to the next, sitting for hours in a sweltering clamshell tent they called a PAX terminal hoping to get manifested on a flight, getting "bumped" because some general officer showed up with 14 strap-hangars taking up all the seats, riding in a non-airconditioned bus in the blistering sun to the farthest reaches of the tarmac where the plane sat, while all the time schlepping 250 lbs of duffle bags in 125 heat. It pays to travel with colonels!
In all we were probably on the ground in Qatar around 36 hours, but it was an awesome trip. As we departed Qatar I was afforded the opportunity to sit up in the cockpit with the pilots. It was an awesome view.
We arrived back in Afghanistan about six hours later where we once again caught a helicopter back to Kabul. I love flying in helicopters and got some great photos. I hope you enjoy them.
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