On the way.

A soldier sleeps peacefully with his rifle in hand on the bus ride to Ft. Stewart, where we catch our flight to Afghanistan.

Final Pep Talk

The soldiers in this picture are receiving an early morning briefing from General Colt about the importance of their mission and the significance of each individual soldier's role. This was immediately before departing on the first leg of the trip to Afghanistan. Some of these soldiers have already been on 3 tours of duty overseas and one is heading back after just recovering from being treated for 6 bullet wounds.

Packed up. Shipping out.

Woke up this morning at 3am to arrive at Ft. Campbell by 3:30. We got checked in, loaded (or schlepped) our gear onto the bus, got some sausage eggs, and biscuits, and sat in an auditorium with the soldiers we'll be traveling to Afghanistan with. The death of Osama Bin Laden has certainly increased the anticipation level for Jeff and I.Interest in the war understandably seems to have increased and it's exciting that we have the opportunity to get relevant, meaningful first-hand information out there to people. We leave for Ft. Stewart in a half hour at 5am for an approximately 10 hour bus ride. Then out of the country we go.

Minor trip delay, major news develops.

Jeff and I got all packed up and headed to Ft. Campbell this Sunday evening. We arrived to find that our bus, which was supposed to depart to Ft. Stewart at 9pm, isn't leaving till tomorrow at 5am. This short delay won't affect our flight to Afghanistan, so we're still on schedule. We're now set to board a bus for a 10 hour ride to Georgia tomorrow at 5am. But those are quite insignificant details in comparison to the news that was just released. What is the chance that I would be sent to cover news in Afghanistan right when Osama Bin Laden was killed? Safe to say this trip got a lot more relevant. I'm currently chillin at the house of a Ft. Campbell public information officer waiting for President Obama to address the nation about Osama's capture and death. Life is unpredictable. Carpe diem.

Visa, it wasnt where i wanted it to be.

I imagine it's pretty unusual for a person's first visa to be for the country of Afghanistan. I'm actually lucky it came through in time. My visa arrived on Friday, 2 days before my departure, thanks to me so ingeniously sending off my passport without having signed it. That caused some annoying complications, but hey, it's here, stamped in my passport, and my colleague/reporter/friend Jeff Tang and I leave from Ft. Campbell in Clarksville, TN tomorrow at 7:30pm.