Kuwait...

Happy Fourth of July from this desert wasteland known as Kuwait. This is my third day here. I will be continuing on my journey to Kabul very soon.

The trip here was very eventful. I kept a timeline of the travel here which will follow. The first times are all eastern time annotated with (e). The other times are the local times in various times zones I traveled through. When I left Kansas, I was on central (c) time. Germany is annotated with (g) and Kuwait with (k). Kuwait is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time and Kabul will be another 1 ½ hours for a total of 8 ½.

I began my journey on Tuesday 30 Jun and here is the timeline:

0900e/0800c stage bags for bus (Fort Riley, Kansas)

1015e/0915c load bags on bus & trailer

1039e/0939c Roll out from Camp Funston to KCI (Kansas City Airport)

1300e/1200c arrive KCI, unload bags for Southwest, took over an hour

1535e/1435c board Southwest for BWI, full plane scattered all over

1543e/1443c push back from terminal

1750e arrive BWI. Gets bags and haul across airport to AMC terminal

1930e done checking in

2030e through security

2205e begin to board, plane overweight, some civilians asked

to leave. Flight attendants can’t complete head count

accurately. Recount multiple times. (Ryan Air)

0058e Close doors

0100e push back from terminal. Take Ambien

0600e wake up from ambien

0911e/1511g arrive Ramstein Germany, deboard for refueling

1110e/1710g reboard

1153e/1753g push back from terminal

1219e/1819g Plane actually takes off

1724e/0024k land Kuwait International Airport. “Ramp congestion”

waiting to park. Temp 103

1836e/0136k at “gate” (parked on tarmack for US Military)

1852e/0152k after H1N1 screening, board buses

1915e/0215k buses roll to staging area

1923e/0223k arrive staging area (little piece of sand surrounded by

concrete barriers.) Temp 93

2141e/0441k leave staging area on bus for Ali Al Salem

2236e/0536k Arrive Ali Al Salem. Have quick formation, then everyone goes

through line to have ID cards swiped through computer.

Meet Navy LNO who didn’t know we were coming.

2330e/0630k go to breakfast

0000e/0700k unload bags from truck. Sort bags. Restack bags. Load bags

back on truck to go to Camp Virginia

0053e/0753k load bus to Camp Virginia

0115e/0815k unload bags into tents

As you can tell, it was a long, long flight. Everyone who goes to Iraq and Afghanistan goes through a similar flight. It will be the same going home, just in reverse order.

If you noticed, I started this blog with the desert wasteland known as Kuwait. There is nothing here at Camp Virginia except for sand. We are living in GP tents on cots. It gets very close to 120 during the day and cools down to upper 80’s to low 90’s during the night. It is very hot. Anyone who says it is a dry heat not the humid heat has never been to Kuwait. Yes, there is no humidity, but you are always sweating. It is so hot that when it cools down into the 70’s at night in the tent with the ac, it is cold. I actually have to sleep in my sleeping bag to stay warm. A week ago when I was in Maine, I would call 70 degrees at night hot. A 50 degree temperature swing during the day is a lot.

Well, that is all from Kuwait. I don’t have enough bandwidth to post any pictures. The internet connection is too slow. Hopefully, the internet will be better in Kabul.

Next stop Task Force Phoenix in Afghanistan….