Kuwait part 1

Hey how’s it going? I’m really at a loss as to what to say about these past few days. I guess I’ll start from when I got back from pass from Utah. The bus back to base almost hit a cow, which was pretty cool. We almost didn’t stop in time. Cows out there are pretty expensive. A good steer will run you upwards of $30,000. If you kill one on base, you owe for that cow and for the next three generations that it might have produced. Not cheap! When we woke up the next morning I put together some training for my guys to do, it was an exam based on what we should have learned in that waste of a class we spent two weeks in. I think the guys learned a bit more about what we were supposed to be doing overseas, at least I hope so. At any rate they said they learned more about the subject than they did in that class.
Oh yeah, most of you didn’t know that I had another pass to Utah. I knew I was going to have one for a little bit before hand, but I didn’t tell too many people I was going to be in town because I knew I wouldn’t be able to visit everyone I would have wanted to. I barely had time to visit the people that I told! I had a wonderful time though; I went to a US Men’s National Soccer team World Cup qualifier against El Salvador which we won. I was one of the very few white people in my section of the stands, and I didn’t speak Spanish so that was interesting. Everyone was there to have a good time and enjoy a great game. Such amazing soccer! I’m glad I went back to Utah, not only for the soccer game, but I was able to say goodbye to some people that I didn’t feel I had properly said goodbye to. I have more of a sense of closure now than I did before. I feel I’m able to hopefully focus on myself and what I’m doing here now. I am still going to miss the ones I love back home, and I’m still hoping to be a part of their lives when I get back. This had been a huge source of stress before this trip home.
Anyway, I got back from Utah on Monday and found out that I was leaving for Kuwait that Saturday. We hurried up and packed everything, except for me. Those who know me know that I usually wait till the day or night before I leave to get everything taken care of; this time was no exception. We flew out Saturday night around 7 pm from Texas with a two hour layover in Minneapolis, then another hour and a half in Frankfurt Germany. We arrived in Kuwait around 2am Monday morning, and Kuwait is about 9 hours ahead of Salt Lake. I’m still not sure how long we flew for, but I’ll let you do the math. Kudos to the first person who tells me how long I was traveling. I only slept a few hours over the Atlantic, but it was actually a pretty decent flight. I’ve had much worse cross country flights. I think everyone who hadn’t been to Kuwait before was really excited to be there, and those of us who had been there before were like eh, it’s still Kuwait. And it’s very much still Kuwait. I do have to say that I’m grateful that we were in Texas for July, August and part of September. The heat there prepared us well for the heat over here! Yesterday it was around 120, and today is pretty cool, only 108 right now! And of course our AC is broken in the tent. The tent isn’t bad at all, really nice actually. I’m on a cot with about 50 or so other guys with plenty of room to spare. About 20 of them are headed up North this weekend so we’ll have just that much more space. The thing I was most excited about was the doors on the tent! Last time I was over here I had a tent flap that would blow open any time there was even a slight breeze. If you want to know what it’s like, with the wind and heat, just turn on a blow dryer, put some sand on your hand, and holds it out in front of your face and turn the blow dryer on high. Make sure you keep your eyes open so you can really get the sand in there!
But really, it’s not too bad. I just can’t wait to get up to Iraq later this month so I can get into my own place (with a roommate) and get my stuff settled. The guys from my unit who have been here for a few weeks already say that it’s going to be quite boring the next few weeks till we leave. Then it’s going to get really hectic. We’re going to take over for another unit, and try to figure out what they’ve been doing and if it’s the way we want to do things. I’ll try to keep this updated as much as I can, but to be honest I don’t think I’ll have a whole lot to say. Well there was something I wanted to comment on. After I got off the plane, for about 12-16 hours afterwards I felt dizzy, like I was still moving up and down. I haven’t felt like that since I was on the boat in the Florida Keys and then stepped on land. I’m not feeling too well right now, they gave us a flu spray right before we got on the plane, then we spent all that time with some 350+ other people with recycled air, then thrown into this environment. I’m not the only one feeling less than superb, but I’m sure we will all start feeling better shortly. So far there isn’t anything to do other than eat, sleep and relax. Anyway, I hope that you all write me and keep me updated on your lives. I won’t have steady access to the internet till I get up in Iraq, but there’s a wireless internet place around here that you can buy access to for a month for about $30, so one of my buddies and I may split that even though I doubt we’ll be here for more than two weeks. Oh, and I know I told just about everyone that I would be home late June/early July next year, but I’ve seen some unconfirmed reports that we’ll be there till September, I’ll let you know when I know.
Well I miss you all and I hope that everything is going well for you. Please keep in touch, and I’ll do my best to update this as much as possible!