keeping the rubber side down

rose early (3 or 4am dubai time) because i was feeling a little jetlagged. I managed to get checked out and to terminal 2 of DBX fairly quickly. i ate a nice airport cafe breakfast of a nice omelet plate with juice and coffee for about $8.

I got on my flight and was promptly shocked by the utter half-assedness of Iraqi Airways (IA). On any other flight I'd ever boarded, there was at least a sense that professional airline people were managing the process. With IA, there was the distinct sense that the level of disorganization and craziness could only be because nobody involved had even the experience that a seasoned traveller has. After boarding an, ahem, well broken in jetliner, I became worried when there were more passengers than seats. Several of the final passengers to embark were african contractors who do FP (force protection) and none of the Iraqi passengers would allow them to be seated near them, using luggage and other infantile gestures to keep them from sitting down. Eventually some of the Iraqi's carry-ons were moved to the cargo hold over their angry, childish protests, and the flight was finally allowed to leave.

Once landing in Baghdad International Airport, it was definitely like being in a different world from Dubai.

I stepped out of the vintage 70's jetway and into an airport that seemed frozen in time from a bygone, soviet/arab inspired architecture. Where dubai was an expansive and impressive combination of High Tech Western Europe and Exotic Middle Eastern, baghdad was an improbable mix of stodgy eastern european drabness and backward third world disrepair and casual filth. the high ceilings were ridden with birds and we quickly descended a staircase into an unkept, crowded series of passport lines. I was immediately struck by the masses of security personnel loitering in the area. First by their unprofessional demeanor, but second and most, by the sense that a wrong move could get their AK's talking first. our local national from our office met us there and directed me to the line while he somehow cut through masses of red tape to acquire a visa for my traveling companion. I made it through the line with little trouble, and we picked up our bags from the vintage luggage carousel and made our way quickly through customs, and outside to where another of our employees was waiting. we rolled to our waiting truck, threw in the bags and motored quickly out of the garage.

Driving out of the airport, I was struck by the incredible state of disrepair of everything. I could not tell if all the damage had been done by the hostilities years ago, or if things had been pretty much falling down to begin with, or by neglect of the government in the years since the invasion.

We motored to the vast network of military bases that surround the airport and motored past the one that I will be staying at and to the one where our other employees work at. There I was introduced to our people here in 6 or 7 at most, and then made my way to my own post.

I was escorted by the guy I'll be replacing, and he showed me around and introduced me to the local logistics team. I was shown to my hooch and got settled in.