Merhaba, Turkiye!

Boy is it good to finally be here.  All the preparation and anticipation was killing me!!!  Mr. speedbird was leaving on a pacific-bound trip at almost the exact same time so he was unable to partake in the grand farewell with the squadron's family and friends.  Seeing my husband's jet parked right behind the jet we were to depart on and knowing that he was right there and could not send me off one last time hurt my heart bad.  Luckily enough, a good friend of mine (also a wife of a fellow deployer) was right there by my side helping me through it all!  Nonetheless, I was, at that very point, ready to fly away.  Maybe my heart wouldn't hurt quite as bad.  The trip out here was 3 legs, 5+ hours each, with about 1.5-2 hour turnover at each stop.  My deployment travel day started at 10am CST 23 Feb and ended at 5pm 24 Feb (not counting the 4 hours it took to get to sleep).  I feel tired all over again just thinking about the trip!

Not much to report on this first gloomy day in the old Ottoman Empire, as the day went by relatively quickly (given I woke up at 10am local and it is now 8:30pm).  I am slated to fly very soon which will be nice, but first up, learning my job tomorrow morning!  (Meanwhile the other LTs will be able to relax if not flying tomorrow... bah well!)  Incirlik is a pretty sweet TDY (temporary duty) and I absolutely consider myself lucky to be here.  There are so many of our troops that deploy to much worse locations for much longer periods of time.  Side note: Julia Roberts, Valentine's Day, anyone? Simply touching.  Anywho, since I am here, I am looking forward to taking advantage of all of the off base excursions/tours that we can go on...  the Castle by the sea (Kizkalesi) and the underground cities of Capaddocia, for example.  With that said, hopefully I will really be able to work on my photography habit and start posting some real good stuff....

bye bye for now!


missing mr. speedbird everyday.  day 1.