For Love Of Country Military Policewoman www.silvaredigonda.ca

“CHAPTER THIRTY The Sinai The flight to Europe was long and tiring. Again I looked down at the British Isles that I so badly wanted to visit but couldn’t. The timing was wrong. I had taken two pills to help me with the flight. The doctor who prescribed them said I had to be awake. “But I don’t want to be awake if I crash. I want to sleep through it,” I argued. “You need to be awake, in case you crash,” he responded. I walked onto the Boeing 707, at Trenton, after swallowing the pills a half hour before the flight. As I walked along the aisle, one guy said he wanted whatever it was that I was on. The drug was making me feel like I couldn’t care less if we crashed or not. It was magical and I must have had a stupid smile on my face judging from some of the comments I was receiving. I was getting an understanding of what it meant to be “high.” We did not crash and the pills wore off. After an eight hour flight, we landed in Germany and we waited to get onto the Hercules for the remaining trip. We were packed individually in hanging harnesses. We had clear visibility of each other. After another seven hour flight, at about 0415 hrs, we arrived. As we were landing I could see condensation on the ceiling of the plane and hoped that it was okay. There was a tiny opening. No one seemed to react to it so I felt fine. I could not wait to land. It was April Fools’ Day when we found ourselves in the Sinai Desert. We looked around us. The sky was beautiful. The sun, an orange glow, welcomed us. It must have been about 72 degrees. I was surprised at seeing bushes strewn here and there. I had expected only sand, but vegetation of sorts did grow here. But due to my fear of flying I had not slept, and I was beginning to suffer for it. We were lined up outside our plane. Exhausted, we continued to study our surroundings. I felt at ease. It wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. The area was flat and rocky. It was nice to see some greenery. Excerpt From: Silva Redigonda. “For love of country : military policewoman.” www.silvaredigonda.ca