Rising tensions in the Middle East cause United and Delta to cancel service to Tel Aviv.
Flight Flub-ups, Anticipating Amman, and Brief Acquaintances
EDIT: NO LONGER ANTICIPATING AMMAN.
While drafting this newsletter, I was sitting in the C terminal of Washington-Dulles Airport feeling pretty smug for having found an alternative route to the West Bank through Jordan. Only a day before, my flight to Tel Aviv was cancelled due to escalating conditions in the Middle East and it looked like my travels would be completely suspended until the following week.
Halfway through writing this update, I received a notification from United that my flight from Washington to Amman also faced the same fate for the same reasons: “instability in the Middle East.” I was informed that my baggage would be waiting for me in the claim area and that I could speak to a ticketing agent about rescheduling a flight to Amman.
Taking the airport’s tram back to baggage claim, I met Robert, a 20s something Texan standing in a group of men about my age, wearing about the same boots, with close cut haircuts above the ears and collars, carrying backpacks laden in MOLLE… Military.
While I wasn’t able to strike up a very even conversation with the group, Robert and I bonded in particular over the fact that he was an Air Force combat medic. Having recently finished TCCC myself, he was open to talking with me about my experiences in the class, offer insights into what his IFAK looked like, and discuss some of the quirks that stand out when dealing with combat-related casualties versus those in a medical environment. We laughed about TSA being taken aback by my heavy-ass “stone age” flak jacket in Newark and he chided about his lightweight ceramics of the “modern era.”
After spending what I could have sworn was an eternity speaking with him - thanks in part to my 50 pound backpack and in part to the fact that I was stranded - he offered up why he was taking the flight to Amman. Robert, like the other dozen men sticking out like sore thumbs, said he was being strategically positioned in the region and awaiting orders from his commander. Other than that sole brief statement, he didn’t know or care to talk about much else. He wished me luck, promised to keep his eyes out for my photos in any papers, asked me to pray that I didn’t see his name in any papers, and disappeared into a crowd of frustrated would-be passengers all wishing on their next best chance to Amman.
I don’t know what the next few days hold for the airspace above Jordan or Egypt, let alone Israel. But I can assume that the flight I have booked for tomorrow evening will most likely continue to be cancelled until Monday. No Israeli, Jordanian, nor American reports suggest otherwise. For the time being, DC remains my purgatory. I’m going to take a bath and recreate the self portrait Lee Miller took in 1945, albeit my bathtub isn’t as infamous as hers nor is it as classy.
Best,