Long Trip

W henever I've deployed to the other side of the world, I get stuck somewhere in the middle of the cattle car, packed in like a damn sardine. Last time, I flew from Baltimore to Kyrzygstan between two rap music fans.
It wasn't quite as packed on the C-130 to my final destination, but it was a combat landing so I was at quite an angle and rather quick, through the mountains.
On the way back, I caught a C-17 back instead of the cattle car. Once we got over to altitude, we were allowed to unbuckle, put down a blanket, and sleep. Since I had been waiting in the terminal for nearly 4 days, I needed sleep.
I flew all the way to Charleston AFB. I could have stopped at Pope AFB, but figured it would be easily to get a flight from Charleston to Atlanta than from Fayetteville to Atlanta. I had to go from there to Los Angeles.
I probably could have flown into Washington state instead of South Carolina, but I might have been stuck there overnight.
It took me 34 hours to get the 14,000 miles home.