Plan B

Plan A, which was Plan B, is now Plan A and Plan B, which was Plan C, is now Plan B. Confused? Well at least you’re not stuck in Iraq with no idea when you’re leaving because not only does it seem like the military is working against you, so is Mother Nature. Allow me to expand on the past two days of life.

35 hours ago I woke up fully expecting to be sitting in Kuwait at this very moment waiting for my passport to return so I could go to my hotel and wait for my commercial flight out of the country. I passed on getting the military equivalent of a reservation because the flight we take is pretty empty leaving here and it’s usually not a problem to get on. Needless to say I was happy as a clam.

6 hours later I came into work to check the flights, which are released daily due to security reasons. The flight we normally take wasn’t there, the same flight that just a week ago someone took to get here! My heart sunk as I called the flight line to verify that what I was reading was correct. My hope only dwindled more after speaking with them and learning that it wasn’t a typo, but the flight really wasn’t coming. He suggested I check back later that evening to make sure nothing had changed.

11 hours ago I was driving over to the flight line to check on the flights again. To my great surprise I saw the flight I wanted to take, the golden egg! I spoke with one of the soldiers and was told to come back in 5 hours. It was the best news I had gotten so far! I was happy as a clam again.

5 hours later I sat in the terminal, listening to my iPod, so excited that things were working out. Then one of the soldiers came out to update the Weather Status, which was green. He pulled the green indicator down and put up a red indicator. My hope faded fast as he walked off. I got up and walked outside, sure enough visibility was very low. My heart sunk more.

After sitting in the terminal for 3 hours waiting for the flight, one of the soldiers walked out and gave us the worst news any of us could ever want to hear. The flight was cancelled. For the next 20 minutes I stood there, staring at the flight schedule, hoping that something would change. I was distraught, I paced around a bit and finally broke down and tried to call our site for a ride. No one answered, so to add insult to injury I walked two miles with my bags back. This helped to tire me out, otherwise I’m sure I’d have been in some sort of rage.

Now I’m sitting here, still not sure what happened, trying to figure out how to feel or what to think. I can feel the anger bubbling within me with the complete lack of control over my situation acting as a catalyst to further stoke the fire. Plan A is to attempt to get out tomorrow, but that’s a slim hope and if I do get out tomorrow getting on my scheduled flight will also be a slim hope. I need something good to happen soon.