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Aug 04, 2022
English Chronicles XX
17 Nov ... 23 Dec ???
Deployed Mission
Part 6
8 January 2002
We managed to get a lot done in the past couple weeks following our notification of redeployment. Shopping for gifts, massages at the hotel, new clothes, tons of great pictures and, oh, I guess a little bit of work too. When we first moved into the hotel, there was a small group of people still stranded because of the snow. The main reason it took so long to get them out (FINALLY, after 2 weeks) was because snow in this part of Bulgaria is very unusual. In fact, we've been told, apologetically, many times, that "we are not used to this weather, we are sorry it is here." This was the first major snow Bourgas has seen since around the mid-60s! Must be El Nino...
With all the snow, some people were able to enjoy Christmas. Most of them left before New Years, and we only had about 25 people around for New Year. Not too much happened on that day, since planes were scheduled to be in around 3AM, and most people had to sleep. Our small team partied down in the Latino Club in the basement of the hotel, and there were fireworks shot from the top of the hotel at midnight.
Anyway, once everyone else was gone, our caretaker team was able to start close out actions. The final team consists of Cash and Tango (Jimmy and I), Patton and Buffy (Services), Radar (Trans) and Hawkeye (Medic). We also kept on one translator, Gabbi (Toni) and the Bulgaria Military allowed Crazy Major Kostov to stay with us as our liaison. We shut down the camp completely, started work on the airport, called in trucks to land transport our remaining cargo home, and set up final payment arrangements with the US Embassy.
As soon as the remaining trucks finish loading up and roll out, we will be able to drive over to Sofia (capital of Bulgaria, and location of the Embassy) to ensure the final payments are made. Once we get verification that everyone has received their money, we will get to fly home! Our guess is that we will drive out of here on Saturday morning, and should arrive later that afternoon. We're planning to drive a van and bus there, and will stop at several places along the way to take pictures and take in the scenery. On Sunday, since the Embassy will not be open, we'll check out the slopes to see what snowboarding in Bulgaria is like.
In the meantime though, we've been stuck at the hotel here, sitting in our newly appointed office (the Mecanin bar on the second floor of the hotel), sipping on cappuccinos or hot chocolates with Baileys, or having a brewski. In the mornings, we work out in the gym (I've gotten more of a work out in the past week, then I do normally back at the base!), followed by drinkin' freshly squeezed orange juice in the Mecanin. Afternoons consist of lunch, usually a Shopska salad and Schnitzel with lemon. Believe it or not, I'm actually eating tomatoes! (Mom would freak out!) In the salad, they're brilliant! There's a special Bulgaria cheese, too, that they sprinkle on top – that with cucumbers, some vinegar and oil, and a little salt and pepper, it's and awesome salad! If we don't eat in the hotel, McDonalds is usually the next avenue for food. The prices are awesome, at 3.50 levs for a value meal (you can get 3 meals for under $5!) Evenings, we tend to head downtown to try out the local restaurants and do some shopping. I'll tell ya what, if it wasn't for the fitness time in the morning, I'd be one fat b@st@rd! At least we have some time finally to relax – those 14 to 15 hour days were killin' us! Once we get most things closed down, we'll probably pick up the pace again when we get to Sofia.
Tomorrow, we head back to the local orphanage to bring more money for their medications and a TV/VCR and some Disney movies. Later in the evening, we are scheduled to meet the Regional Governor to present him with a lithograph of the KC-135R refueling plane, and Friday afternoon we will meet with the director of the Bourgas International Airport to present him with the same. Other than that, we're just working on our LOEs (Letters of Evaluation) and award packages. More than likely, we'll receive several medals for being here: Armed Force Expeditionary Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, and either an Achievement or a Commendation Medal. If we receive these, you can check them out on my personal page (www.geocities.com/dreanged1/PersonalPage.html). I should also have an update on a couple of newspaper stories from "Stars and Stripes" on Bulgaria. (see last page)
More to come as the story unfolds... ciao for now! [Disregard this, the story continues below]
Danny boy
Well, may as well continue on here, seeing as the mission is over and I'm already home. So here goes the rest of the story:
The next morning, we all planned to head out to the orphanage, but there were a couple of road blocks, in that the van we had was kinda small. So we could only drive out like 5 people. Knowing this, Cash decided to stay behind to catch up on paperwork, as did Patton. Hawkeye needed some extra sleep, and I don't think Radar's heart was in it that morning. So, besides me, Crazy Major Kostov, Buffy and Gabbi. Gabbi's son was supposed to join us as well, but circumstances dictated otherwise.
Once on the road (I was driving of course), we "traversed" the weather (as was once stated by a Trans guy) and took to the mostly cleared highway 20 miles up until we came to the small road leading to the Iksha village. As we made our way up the mostly snow-covered road, reduced to single lane as it was never ploughed, we parked near the orphanage and headed inside. On this trip, we brought along the money raised when everyone headed home, which gave the center enough money for medicine through the rest of the year; a TV/Video Player from Cash; some heaters; and some movies we bought downtown. We got to play with the kids for a couple hours, singing and laughing, reading stories (though none of us could understand each other). It was just fun and heart swelling to see the kids so happy. From what I gathered, interest in orphanages throughout Bulgaria is extremely low, and the kids there rarely get visitors. After saying farewell to the kids, the center director escorted us out and wished us well, asking if we'd be back. 'Maybe' was all we could think of, as we didn't have the heart to say we were leaving for home already.
Back at the hotel, we got things ready for the final days and set up our appointments with the vendors to let them know we were leaving. Cleaning up after a deployment is normal, and some vendors just aren't happy with you leave (or take the money with you). We had one of those kind of vendors... he was the owner of one of the rental companies, and he stated earlier on that he would not refund any of the prepaid month, even though we only used them for a week. After Cash tried to compromise with him, reaching no agreement, the guy had the nerve to ask about payment for damages, parking fees and fuel. With a straight face, and a little bit of underlying anger at the situation, Cash simply said "No" to each of his requests for more money, saying that if he was unwilling to compromise, so were we. One thing that also played in this "game" was that we planned to use 1 of the remaining vans from his company to get us to Sofia (along with another van that was rented in Sofia that we were returning). The guy said that "only the person who signed for the car could drive it" (which is also not what we agreed to since most people on the camp needed access to the cars) and, that in fact, Cash was not the person who signed for these cars. Well, going over the edge a bit, Cash just had us give the man his keys back, after we cleared out our stuff, and said we'd simply hire a bus to take us out there – we didn't really need his van anyway. But, in keeping with professionalism, Cash still extended his hand, stating that there are no hard feelings, and thanked him for doing business.
Once we were comfortable that everything was squared away, we made our plans to head out to Sofia. It was now the Saturday, 13th of January, early in the morning, when we got our things set up for the bus – all the bags were in the lobby by 0530, and the bus was right on time at 0600. We carefully packed our belongings between the van and the bus and were on the road by 0630. I drove the van, with Major Kostov as my driving companion, while the others rode in the bus. I asked to stop at the gas station, as the van was in desperate need of windshield wiper fluid. Something was lost in the translation, because the bus driver just drove past the station and onto the highway. I called the other team on the cell phone, but they were just as baffled as I. I told them I'd stop and catch up to them later.
After getting the fluid, and some water and sandwiches, the Major and I headed out and listened to the radio and talked as we watched ahead, waiting to see if we'd catch up to the bus. Down the road a ways, the radio seemed to be getting quieter, so Major Kostov tried adjusting the volume. I let him know that I'd tried that before and the buttons were broke – but he persisted. Finally though, the volume button gave way, turning the radio up really loud, as we jammed down the road. The Major had a cocky grin on his face, as he "defeated" what I could not. I gave him his due respect for "fixing" the radio, then asked if he could turn it down a bit. "Sure" he said, just as cocky. After trying to push the button several times, the radio's music didn't diminish as planned. I kept a straight face though... after all, I'm just driving here... J I'll give it to him though, he stuck with it, and actually disassembled the radio, as we drove along. After what seemed like an hour (though it was more like 20 minutes), he snapped a face part back in place and suddenly the volume controls were again operational! "You da man!" was all I could say... "Yes, I am the man!" he said proudly.
Suddenly, my cell phone rang. I didn't realize it, but we had been in "comm-out" for some time, mainly because we were in a very rural part of the country, and only now returned to a bit more civilization. It was Radar, saying they just stopped at a rest area. I asked where he was, and whether they were on a mostly uncleared part of the highway. He wasn't sure, since he wasn't driving, but said he just past a couple Nuclear plants to the left and was on the right. Just seconds further, I found his mentioned landmarks, and up a little more I saw the bus. Ahhh.... Reunited!
The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, and we mostly listened to the Bulgarian news as the Major translated for me. The weather in the mountains was nice, though back in Sofia it was going to be another overcast and chilly day. The Major was excited though, because good mountain weather meant our snowboard trip would be great. That put me in a good mood too. I learned that the Major had learned English many years ago, and hadn't actually spoken it in over 6 years! I was really impressed, as I am with anyone who can speak English fluently – it's a very tough language to master, and all the brainwork it takes to translate from a foreign language to your own is phenomenal. But he explained that he learned English so well, that he actually thinks in English... that amazed me, but I guess it's possible!
Reaching the big city, I once again remembered why I didn't like the city life. Traffic was bumper to bumper and the roads were in pretty bad shape, snow-wise. The city was noisy, as is expected from a capital, and the people crowded the streets. Still, there was a nice sense of history – old buildings and churches, statues and monuments were all over. I made it a point to return during the next couple days to see the sites.
We all decided that this evening was one for relaxing, so we didn't go out to do much that evening. Next morning though (Sunday), Radar had a flight and headed out. The plans for snowboarding fell through, and while Cash, Buffy and Patton escorted Radar to the airport, I stayed behind and wound up venturing out with Major Kostov to see the sights of Sofia. Since the Embassy was closed over the weekend, what else were we to do? He showed me around town, passing by the office of the president of Bulgaria, where we happened upon a changing of the guard! We continued up the street. The longer we were outside, the more the chills of the January cold set in. The sidewalks were still a bit icy and wind started making its way through my shoes. I had also left my gloves in the room, thinking that we'd be indoors more often. He pointed out the parliament building and the Russian Church.
Later, we happened on the St Alexander church. Immense in appearance from the outside, the right upper dome was under construction. The rest of the church though was beautiful. It has many of the styles you see from Russian pictures, with rounded dome tops, covered in gold. Paintings and sculptures encased the whole building. We went inside, and immediately you could hear singing. The inside was just as beautiful. The walls were covered, top to bottom with paintings of Christian artwork. Ancient candle-held chandeliers graced the walkways, though the actual candles had been replaced following the advent of electricity. You could tell though that at some point in history, one of the monks (or all) was required to get a ladder to light the hundreds of candles to illuminate the rooms. The sounds of the voices in the choir rose as we neared the center of the room. It sounded like there were speakers everywhere, some sort of surround sound in the church, but in fact, the voices were above us on the second floor, and their voices simple reverberated throughout the church. The singing was in an older Bulgaria language, as was the intermittent benediction by the priest. I closed my eyes listening to the singing, and knew that if I could come to something like this everyday, it'd make all the daily woes disappear.
I sat down on a bench, while Major Kostov went to light a few candles for his family, friends and members of his family that were no longer with us. I again closed my eyes and listened to the music make its way through the church. I lost track of time and opened my eyes to see that the Major was waiting on me. I smiled and knew it was time to leave. We headed up the street through a collage of street-vendors, looking at the old artifacts from the Russian days; flasks, knives and medals from the Red Army; old paintings; other relics. We continued on, passing by a tribute statue, before heading to the coffee shop to warm up. Inside we just relaxed as we thawed out our hands and feet... ahhh... I had a couple cups of tea and watched the people outside do their normal routine. Across the street, children were riding sleds down a small hill in the park. I had forgotten all about sledding and wanted to go out there myself! It brought back memories of the hill in Michigan we used to ride on every winter, but the name escapes me at the minute. Anyway, after about a half hour, we decided to check out the Russian Christian church – Major Kostov had never been inside one, and we were both curious about any differences from the Bulgaria churches. We were cautious in entering, not sure if there were different rules, or if you had to a member of the congregate to get inside. Walking in though, it was just a normal church like the others, painted from top to bottom and pictures of various saints lined the floors for worship. A beggar gypsy and her child were at the door with their hand out for 'charity'. There weren't too many places you could go without seeing them around. The kids would pester you as you walked by, asking for stotinkies (local coins). (But mom, now you have good proof that Gypsies do exist, and they do BUY children, so remind Andy of that the next time he acts up! HAHA)
We left the church after a couple minutes (and a couple candle lightings), and chose to go to the Natural History Museum. I don't remember ever going to one of these, so I was interested not only in the concept, but to see what Bulgarian natural history involved. It was more of a zoo of sorts, with some live, but mostly stuffed animals from all over the world. There were reptiles in aquariums; huge boas, turtles, geckos, etc; a room for birds, one for larger animals, like lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), and we reached the one for butterflies before we got a phone call from Cash. "Where ya at?!" Our meeting time back at the hotel was 1330, and it was quarter til one at the time. "We're at the museum..." "Well, get back here!" I wasn't sure what the hurry was, but we made our way down to the exit and walked back toward the hotel. Along the way, I remembered that we were meeting for lunch at Pizza Hut, which explained the urgency... Everyone was HUNGRY! Haha
We all gathered, and I went upstairs to my room to grab my gloves and hat (dang it, it's COLD out there!) We headed over to the restaurant and had us some pizza, followed by a visit to the local malls. The prices were much higher than the corresponding items in Bourgas. At least 3 times higher! Whereas a nice shirt in Bourgas cost about 20-30 levs ($9-14 or £6-9), it was closer to the range of 60 levs! That evening, we went out to an Irish pub, and had a blast! We drank Murphay's and ate some awesome food. I had steak –Mmm mmm... delicious! Later, we found ourselves a bit bored, so Jimmy started up a drinkin' game. It was called "Swish, Boing, Bounce, Boom-shackalacka", and was played by bouncing or passing an imaginary ball around the table. If you don't pay attention when the "ball" gets to ya, ya take a two-finger drink of your beer. Major Kostov was a bit leery of this game, and sat out the first round. We later conned him into playing, and we just had too much fun, accusing everyone of missing the pass or the bounce over the heads, etc. I'll show ya how to play next time I'm in town, OK? You won't regret it (much!) HAHA
Monday morning rolled around, and we got up early so we could head down to the Embassy to take care of business. The embassy was just around the corner, and we walked over. Following the September 11th attacks, the road to the U.S. Embassy was closed off, and a guard had to check our IDs just to get to the street leading to the building. Once finally inside, another screening process took place. Finally we were allowed into the main hall, where our host, Sergeant Johnson, took us up to his office to discuss final arrangements and set up our tickets home. They gave us an escort to the finance office located on the other side of town, where we drove in a tinted out SUV at MACH speeds through the city streets. I'm glad the driver knew what he was doing! Getting inside the finance office was just as much a pain in the @$$. Once we coordinated everything to make the final payments on the airport and camp, we headed back to the Embassy to pick up our flight reservations. Everyone was out to lunch, so we had to wait in the lobby. An Army sergeant was posted at the main door, checking IDs and watching the multitude of cameras. As we stood by for about a half hour, we noticed that the sergeant reached for her hat and put it on... made us curious. Moments later, an older gentleman walked from the elevator, said hello to us as he made his way out the big metal door to the outside. Once gone, the sergeant removed her hat, and returned to her job. A little later, we asked who the guy was – "He's the U.S. Ambassador", she said calmly. cool!
We received our flight reservations and headed over to pick up our tickets from the travel agent. Afterwards, we all went home to repack our bags and get ready for the flights out the next day. The evening meal was McDonalds, though we easily could have gone somewhere more Bulgarian. Just weren't in the mood to look around. I had nothing else to do in the night, so I read a book that the folks from back in England sent me, "A painted house" by John Grisham.
Tuesday morning, 16 January, we got up and got ready. We had breakfast downstairs before getting our bags ready on carts. We didn't hold our breath too much, thinking there was still some kinda chance that we wouldn't leave today. After all the freak snow storms, we knew anything was possible, and that we could end up in Bulgaria until 2008! Haha! But, everything turned out OK, as we saw off Patton and Buffy around noon, followed by a 2 hour wait for our flight. We gathered our bags (all 14 of them) and checked in. They were surprised by our mass luggage, and of course, we had to pay excess baggage fees. Turned out we set a new record! Most of the stuff though was Progear, stuff folks left behind that we had to take with us. Then we said goodbye to Major Kostov and wished him well, promising that we'd keep in touch. You could see a tear in his eye as he shied away, not wanting us to see him cry... OK, so maybe it didn't really happen that way, but who's gonna argue with me?! We passed through the Customs area and waited in the lobby until our flight was called.
We finally boarded the bus that lead to the plane. Coming through the main door, the purser (Simon) asked for my boarding pass. It was in my pocket, so I asked him to hold a folder for me while I retrieved it. The folder had an emblem from one of the units, and he asked if I was in the military. I said yes, but still wanted to keep it low key. He mentioned that his brother was in the forces. I said cool, and made my way to my seat. We managed exit row seats, extra comfort, but were still dismayed that our counterparts heading for Germany swung Business Class seats. But we planned to make the best of the flight and started talking up the stewardesses. Before long, they could tell that we were nothing but trouble, laughing at our silliness, and went to talk to Simon. A few minutes later, he came over, making a slight commotion, asking for our boarding passes. He had a sheet of paper with him that he examined, as he stated, "ahh yes, Mr SeChrist, Mr Rea, yes, I'm so sorry, we've made a mistake, and these seats are not correct. You should be up in the front. I'm very sorry about the confusion, please follow me to your seats. Again, we're very sorry for this..." He escorted us up to the First Class seating, all the while, we knew we weren't really on the list for those seats. He made us comfortable, and offered us wine, again apologizing for the confusion. Finally he winked, letting us know to keep quiet about the seat change over... no problem, we thought!
After establishing we were with the Air Force, he went on to tell us that he used to be in the RAF, and asked said to make sure Osama was taken out. We assured him we were doing our best! Haha So over the rest of the flight, he made sure we had full wine glasses, an awesome meal, with some kind of cherry dessert. We weren't sure though if they were cherries or not, so we asked. Instead of an answer, he shrugged and gave us more dessert! The stewardesses were back to talk with us, as we continued to joke with them. With a slight buzz, I gave them my Dr Evil impression, which they loved. I also checked out the view from the window, which gave way to instant snapshots of the mountains through the clouds and the evening sunset.
Finally landing in Gatwick, we made our way through customs and immigrations, and collected our bags. We had to count 'em all a couple times to make sure we had all 14! In the main lobby area, we met up with "Tunisia", a friend of Jimmy's, who drove us back to the base. Ahhh... home soil. I dropped off most of the progear and loaded up my car with my own bags before heading home for the night... ahhh again.... My own bed. I was fast asleep, knowing that it'd take a little while to get back into the real routine again.
Some links to Stars and Stripes (links not guaranteed to work)
USAFE commander pays a visit to airmen in Bulgaria
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1776&archive=true
Mildenhall air crew stepped up the pace in support of Enduring Freedom
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1868&archive=true
86th Services Squadron hikes morale of troops in Bulgaria
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1696&archive=true
It's frigid on the Black Sea coast, but troops in Bulgaria keep the planes flying
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1701&archive=true
Cold War rivals U.S., Bulgaria now working together to secure airport, base
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1855&archive=true
Holiday absences make hearts grow stronger for military families
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1448&archive=true
Bulgarian base, usually quiet in winter, now bustles with refugee aid activity
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1286&archive=true
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