C-130 to Kuwait

After 28 hours at BIAP I finally got manifested on a standby flight to Ali as Salem aboard a C-130. I’d flown on them before and knew it was not the acme of comfort but it was leaving before my scheduled flight later in the day and represented my best chance of staying on schedule. We placed our checked luggage on a cargo pallet and then lined up to board the aircraft. I tried to stay at the end of the line since that would place me at the rear of the aircraft (last on, first off). From experience, I wanted to avoid sitting in the narrow portion of the middle of the aircraft. The nylon web seats are arranged longitudinally facing each other. Unfortunately, I misjudged and ended up sitting towards the end of the narrow middle portion. I was squeezed in across from a female army enlisted sergeant carrying a pack that should have been palletized; it was bigger than her. I’m not claustrophobic but it was very crowded and well over 100 F while we waited to take off. Once aloft, the air conditioners kicked in and the temperature came down. I actually managed to doze a bit. After a bumpy descent, which made a few people look queazy, we landed an hour later at Ali as Salem AB in Kuwait.