Layover into Combat

So after our "pit stop" in Germany, we were on our way to Manas Air Base (top righthand corner) which is essentially our layover into combat--here's a map so you can see where it is in relation to Afghanistan (my destination is Bagram Air Field--a bit North of Kabul).

Our flight attendants had a great sense of humor and allowed some of our flyers to do the safety announcements--they even loaned out their fancy neck scarves!

One of the operators graciously reserved me a spot in First Class for the 9-hour flight but one of the paybacks was to unload all the bags when we arrived to Manas..

One of the fun parts was watching the operators ride the belt down after we were done!

We were there just under 24 hours and I was able to catch a couple of hours sleep in the below female 144-person tent fully equipped with bunk beds.  I particularly liked how females kicked the heat on full-blast when it was 85 degrees outside...really?!

The container on the left was the bathroom (you'll see the inside) and the tent on the right were the showers (wasn't vacant to take pictures of inside).

The lovely stall below:

and the sink:

That's why I was glad to be gone in 24 hours!!!