One of Six

A full moon was shining over Iraq as I drove to the terminal. Tonight I would be fulfilling one of my goals.

Earlier in the evening I had met friends at Echo's Restaurant. It's really only one of two social places to gather on the entire base. I had only been there once before and that was only to have a pop. I met some of my coworkers and we all ordered hamburgers and fries. I hadn't had a burger since Kuwait and it had been the consistency of a hockey puck. This time the burger was decent. It was great not sitting in the dining facility (DFAC) with all the other Soldiers. It's times like this that I don't quite feel like I'm deployed...even if it's only for an hour or so.

At the terminal I met up with my forklift instructor. He brought me out to the yard and we walked over to the forklifts they use to move pallets and containers off of the big aircraft like C130s, C17s or C5s. This isn't a Home Depot or Menards version of a forklift. The cab floor alone is at least 6 1/2 feet off the ground.

The instructor showed me all the pre-checks prior to driving and then I climbed the ladder and planted myself in the seat. Next he went through all of the controls and before I knew it, I was starting the engine. Here I go-

He had me drive around the building a couple of times which I would probably have felt less anxious if the crazy Brits weren't driving through the area with their fork lifts.

After a couple of loops and feeling more confident, he had me pick up a large cargo pallet. The moment of truth. I had to watch his hand and arm signals to maneuver the fork; up, down, tilt forward and tilt back. I picked up the pallet, backed up and drove around the compound with the pallet, returned the pallet to it's original location and repeated the process with a smaller pallet. Success!!!!

The rest of the evening I couldn't keep the grin off of my face. I've gone from being coffee girl to forklift operator!