My trip back through Florida was hectic.

Got up about 3:00a.m. to leave Afghanistan on a mid morning flight to Dubai, sat in Dubai for 12 hours before flying direct to Washington D.C..

Landed at Panama City in the late afternoon on Tuesday Oct 2nd. and then flew out for Qatar on Friday in the mid afternoon October 5th. I had ~45 minutes notice to pack & check out of the hotel.

My wife came to visit and she got me to the flight on time.

Others missed their flights and had to check back in to the hotel.

We all should have been scheduled to fly out Saturday, but such was the last minute scheduling that I was the only one to have a ride to take me. The others had to wait for a shuttle to come get them.

I arrive in Qatar late Saturday night and the rest went well.

 

On base living conditions are nice in Qatar.

Takes forever to get processed in here, both corporate and military.

All the work computers are on the military's net and I still can't access them.

I'm doing this over the military's moral wifi from my cell phone.

 

My future here is uncertain since my arrival.

It seems that they have been short handed forever, the most recent arrival before me getting here in August.

More have arrived in the three weeks since I've been here, but then one who's contract completed left already, and others looking to bail out, and others of course their contract end approaches.

There isn't a central generating station here as would be in the States. I'm an operator more than a mechanic, so I'm not a good fit here.

I'm waiting to hear what's in store for me.
I doubt that the CT job market is any better, and now I know I should avoid applying for diesel generator set maintenance at least until I get more experienced.

The schedule here is nominally six 10-hour days; though the group strives for five 12-hour days this is my first day off after working seven 12's since I arrived. I'm thankful for the earnings.

Best wishes to all.