I'm Back Baby...!! **UPDATED**

I have been out of touch for the past five days on a mission, but I arrived at our complex now. I wasn't ANYWHERE where I had comms, so I apologize for that. I have a hellovalot to share with you, but as of right now I need to shower, shave and sleep.

I'm back at BIAP and in good spirits and all I can say is...


Woooooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooooooo

BLACKHAWKS RULE....!!! (not talking about the Chicago hockey team either)

Man I took a ton of picks too, be ready for some reading cause I will have much to talk about...

"Love Ya"

**The Update**

As soon as I got back I talked to the manager about our little problem we had up north. The first thing they asked me was whether or not I had my ticket (8 days and counting). Well the thing with Global has come up again and the airport has been shut down till the 16th. Now I have my main ticket which gets me back home, but to get out of here is a 2 part process. One you have to get a ticket heading back to the States (which can be from several different locations Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait, Kuwait and that's about it).

Now this can be a problem at times, because you ticket has to be issued as a paper ticket and then mailed to you which under the US postal can take up to three weeks, Fedex can get it here in 4-5 days, but it cost $40-$50 just for a letter envelope. The second part (which is actually the first leg of the trip, but it is better to buy the second leg first not only that but sometimes you cant buy your first leg till 7 days out) is going up to the airport terminal and buying your ticket out of Baghdad. Now there are only 3 airlines that I know of that fly out of Baghdad international Airport (other than the military flights) to the destinations I mentioned above. The military only flies to Kuwait, but it is almost impossible to be able to rely on them to get you out so that you make your second leg.

With all that said here is my dilemma: I have my ticket back to the States, as I said I was out of comms for the last 5 days so I had no way of knowing what was going in Baghdad, so now the airport is suppose to be closed till the 16th of the month and I do not have my first leg ticket yet. What is going to happen is however long the airport is closed is how long it will take them to get back on track. So if they are closed till the 16th them I potentially will not be able to fly out till a week from then and that is not acceptable. The other problem I have is my second leg is out of Dubai (which is 862 miles SE of Baghdad)which means I can't catch the Mil flight (short for Military) to Kuwait (358 miles SE of Baghdad) and catch my return flight. I either have to change my ticket to leave from Kuwait and risk taking a Mil flight to there, or (still taking a Mil flight) fly from Kuwait to Dubai, or just risk flying out of Baghdad to Dubai... Not too hard huh....

Man getting out of this place is like trying to plan a breakout from Sing Sing.