It’s a 30-hour trek from Lejeune to Afghanistan

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of an ongoing series of reports from Afghanistan by The Daily News writer Jennifer Hlad, who is embedded with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit there.

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The trip began on a cold morning at Camp Lejeune and ended more than 30 hours later on chilly, dusty morning at a base in the southern part of Afghanistan.

It took about 100 Marines and sailors of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from North Carolina to Virginia on a half-full commercial jet, distinguishable from another civilian plane only by its lack of first-class seating and yellow ribbons posted on the bulkhead.

After a few hours in Virginia, the Marines and sailors reloaded the plane, now joined by about one hundred airmen also headed for Afghanistan. The group traveled through Maine, then Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Manas Air Base in the Kyrgyz Republic before the airmen and Marines split up, headed to different areas of the same country.

Cpl. Will Gillespie, an administrative clerk with the 24th MEU, said he slept through most of the flights, and he wasn't the only one.

"When I was awake, everyone else was asleep," he said.

Traveling on a civilian aircraft while wearing uniforms and carrying weapons was strange, Gillespe said, but the concept of "hurry up and wait" is nothing new to the Marines.

And while the trip was long, the group had possibly the shortest journey of any in the unit, Marines already in Afghanistan said.

Many groups spent a night or even 24 hours at Manas Air Base - helping make one day in March the busiest day in recent years, said Lt. Col. Adriane Craig, chief of public affairs for the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing.

The base, which opened after Sept. 11, 2001, and began running operations in December 2001, processed more than 1,600 people one day in mid-March, Craig said.

With service members coming and going from deployments, the base population can double in a day, and a late flight can mean 200 extra people for dinner, she said.

But Manas has made many facility improvements to meet the needs of Marines, sailors and others who pass through, Craig said.

From a 24-hour dining facility and a gym that never closes to recreation centers that offer bingo, karaoke, movies and video games to everyone coming through, Craig said the Air Force personnel "try to provide a lot of things for people to do, to ease the transition."

The transition for this group from the 24th MEU was relatively short - just three hours in which the troops checked in, unloaded luggage, reloaded bags onto palettes and piled into a C-17 airplane.

Then, at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Eastern time, or 6 a.m. Afghanistan time, they stepped off the plane, ending their travels and beginning their seven-month deployment.

Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or visit her blog at http://fromafghanistan.encblogs.com.