Going to the Desert - Part II

   In the month between learning about my deployment, and actually going there, I had a few things to take care of. One of them was the American Board of Surgery Qualifying exam. This is a torturous 300 question computer based exam that is the gatekeeper to the oral Certifying Exam. They've promised to send a detailed score report to my home, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a pass/fail exam. I passed.

   In addition, I had the pleasure of touring all of Ft. Huachuca in an effort to get all of my administrative paperwork in order. Most of this was wasted time, gas, and effort to get someone to initial a piece of paper. In the end, this was all for naught, as no one really cared what I had accomplished in Arizona. Everything that would need to get done would get done at the CONUS (Continental United States) Replacement Center (CRC) at Ft. Benning, GA.

   The CRC (photo at right is "Main Street" CRC) was initially conceived as a method of ensuring that civilians in the employ of the Department of the Army as well as civilian contractors who would be working within a theater of operations in the Middle East were prepared for the situation in which they would soon find themselves. It was in indoctrination into not only the harsh geographical climate, but also into the political and social climate of working with and within the US Military in a deployed environment. As it matured, the CRC also took on the responsibility for pre-deployment spin-up of Reservists, National Guard, and Active Duty soldiers who were deploying as individual replacements or in small groups. Represented among those 450 people present that week were a motley crew of civilians mixing with professional soldiers much as oil mixes with water.

   CRC turned out to be a solid week of equipment issue and briefings. We received more gear than we could possibly use. Uniforms, boots, cold weather gear, a folding shovel (entrenching tool for those who know the lingo), chemical suit, full body armor (That's me at left in full "Battle Rattle"), and a Beretta 9mm to mention just a few things. Altogether, this would more than fill 3 standard issue Army duffel bags. So far, much of it remains unpacked and unused. In addition, we were herded through the clinic to make sure our immunizations were up to date and that we were medically fit to deploy. The primary objective of CRC is to make sure that as many people as possible load the plane at the end of the week to go to Kuwait. To that end, they will nearly bend over backwards in an effort to make sure that you have everything you need. Plus some. This monumental task is repeated weekly by the folks down there in Ft. Benning. For all of the inconvenience that was experienced during that week, this was, hands down, the most helpful and efficient process the Army has ever subjected me to. The week culminates with a trip to Freedom Hall at Lawson Army Airfield and hours of waiting prior to boarding the Freedom Flight. As I sat in that DC-10, pistol strapped to my side, I peered out the window to see the CRC staff lined up on the flight line, at attention, saluting our aircraft.

  We taxied to the runway and the three General Electric engines roared to life. Our heavily laden aircraft lumbered down the strip for what seemed like an eternity before I felt that familiar shift of our weight from the undercarriage to the wings. We were airborne. It was 6:40pm on Friday, August 29,2008. Thus would begin what would feel like the longest day of my life.