A Barbour's Life

Just letting you know I’m settled in at Joint Base Balad. Got my little housing unit all squared away and have been taking care of bookkeeping stuff. I should be flying in a couple days after some briefings and training. Of note, in about a week and a half I’m being sent down to Ali Air Base near Nasiriyah, Iraq. It’s a squadron detachment and is only responsible for two aircraft. That means two launches and two landings per day. Spread across three crews and three shifts, it should be pretty low key down there. Consequently, I’ll be on shift with only my sensor operator and the civilian maintenance guys. I’ll be running the show. Kinda crazy, eh? Best part, however, is that the base is pretty much free of mortar attacks. We get a few here at Balad every couple days, but all the housing is barricaded. Anything short of a direct hit on my room will be a non-issue for me. So Ali is even safer than Balad. So Ali should be pretty awesome… lots of time for morale calls and such. In fact, expect to hear from me sometime in the very near future. Dad, you’re easy to call given that you’re in Vegas. Mom, I’ll be tracking down the DSN number to the base operator at Altus tonight and should be able to get patched through to you once I get that. But yeah… arrived here 23 JAN and expect to depart 23 MAY, hopefully back in the States a few days later. Given how wretched my travel here was, hopefully the return is as smooth as glass.

HISTORY

Ali Air Base (ICAO: ORTL) is a military airbase located near Nasiriyah, Iraq. It was formerly known as Tallil Air Base. At present, the base is being used by United States Armed Forces. It is called Camp Adder by the U.S. Army; the name “Ali Air Base” is used chiefly by the U.S. Air Force; the installation, however, is still commonly referred to as “Tallil”.

The base occupies 30 square kilometers and is protected by 22 kilometers of security perimeter. The ancient Babylonian city of Ur, known as the birthplace of Abraham, is located within the security perimeter for Ali Base, and its ancient ziggurat is visible from nearly every area of the base.Read More

We arrived at 0400L and immediately in-processed. Rain made the whole thing fairly miserable. Mud everywhere, lack of any real knowledge of what was going on… just following the crowd. Really made the first day miserable. But took a hot shower last night and felt great afterward. Climbed into my bunk in the transient tent and watched a movie. I should be on a C-17 to Iraq tonight. Looking forward to a more permanent billet and settling in for 120-day haul.

Arrived in Qatar. What a sh–hole. Pardon the language, but this place is a–!

Info:

Al Udeid Air Base is a military base west of Doha, Qatar. It houses coalition personnel and assets. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central Command, and home to both No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad, reportedly told US officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 US servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid.

Overnight in Germany for a mechanical issue. Delayed another 22 hours. Hopefully more.

Just landed in Ramstein, Germany. I haven’t seen old world forest like this since the late ’80s. Oh, what I’d do to be stationed here. About 30 minutes in the terminal, cellphone no workie. First thing I see when I get off the plane is a Subway. I didn’t fly to Germany for Subway. I don’t care that it’s an American airbase. Give me something local and authentic! Off to Italy next. Love you all.

Hey hey… I’m off on a great-ish adventure tomorrow heading to Iraq for my first deployment as an Air Force aviator. Fun stuff. I should have regular access to the Internet so you can expect semi-regular updates from me probably via email. Maybe I’ll be able to access my website and update there, but no guarantees. For care packages and such, I can be reached at the following mailing address:

My Name (without rank)
332 AEW / 46 ERS
APO AE 09315

I’m expecting to return at the end of May or the earliest part of June so plan a party or something, eh?

– Dustin