Leaving on a jet plane

don't know when I'll be back again. I am not actually leaving the country, but I am leaving JBB for a few days. I have been given the opportunity to go to the city of Ur and go on a tour. The tour is facilitated by some guy that decided that the soldiers should be able to come and look at the city that Abraham was born in and civilization began (kind of).

I got selected to go because I put my name in a hat and the Chaplain drew it. Which is very surprising seeing as how I never get my name drawn in regards to raffles of any sort. We are leaving in the next couple of days and will be back sometime next week. We are flying there and I am suppose to only bring a carry on, which is going to be hard because I have to bring some sort of bedding. Any ideas how I am suppose to get a sleeping bag liner, clothes, and toiletries in a backpack? If only Marry Poppins was real.

This trip should be pretty awesome. There are 15 of us going...I think. Including SFC McAllen and the Chaplain. Cara will not be going, and this will be the longest that we have been apart since getting deployed together. Should be interesting if we can learn how to function without the other one. I see this as a practice run for when we have to go back home.

The trip was organized by an officer in our unit that had heard about this tour and thought it would be a great opportunity for us. I plan on taking a picture of me in front of this: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/46769923_a35c9ac3b5.jpg

I don't know if we will get to see the Ziggurat...but my guess is that we will. Ur is apparently a huge archeological dig site and there are artifacts dating back to 2600 B.C. Now do you see why I want to go there?

So, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be "out of the office" for the next week or so (maybe less maybe more). Flying in Iraq is not a definite thing. You can't just sign up for a flight with a guaranteed spot. There is a lot of waiting to see if there are any seats available and stuff like that.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures (1LT Duvall told me I had to) and will post them when I get back and tell you stories about the land of Mesopotamia.