Outside the Wire
I am sorry I haven’t written in a while. I…
I am in Kuwait
July 20, 2005
This is a post from an earlier blog I kept when I was in Iraq.
Mood: 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵
Hey ma, it’s me… I am in Kuwait. Please feel free to share this email with everyone. I cannot explain to you how incredibly hot it is here.
It is like standing in front of a barbeque pit, but you’re unable to get away from it. In order to use the internet here, they charge $5/hr., so I don’t have long… I touched down after an unbearably long flight in Germany. It was about 7.5 hours long we watched 2 movies: Hitch and Safari. They served us breakfast burritos and lunch was some sandwiches. There’s not much I can say about it. I really didn’t have much time to look around because we only had an hour and a half before the flight took off again. I did go outside however and it was cold there! How I wish I was back there again!!! Anyways we took off again and they served us dinner… Time seems to move in a freakish fashion.
It only felt like one day but by the time I got to Kuwait, it was already Wed… When we flew to Italy I managed to get a window seat, and gaze out of the window the whole time. When the plane descended below the cloud line the view was astonishing. “This place is so beautiful,” I thought to myself. There were mountains and rivers and the houses had red-orange roofs. It was so peaceful looking and, pleasant on the eyes how everything was structured. I did however noticed huge mudslide things that looked like rivers… I was confused by this.
The weather outside was mild. They gave us food when we arrived: Capri-Sonne (Capri-Sun) and sandwiches. A lot of Air Force guys were there and I seemed to get along well with them. They told me that Italy was boring because nobody understood English and that everything is expensive on top of the fact that the Euro costs more than the dollar.
The next flight took off and I slept through it, when We landed we were in Kuwait. They needed volunteers to help take the baggage off of the aircraft, and because of my rank I was volunteered… Anywho when I stepped outside it was already 1 AM and still hot outside… Ain’t as hot as it is now though. I was on the back of a cargo truck stacking a crazy amount of bags on it. I sweat like I never did before in my whole life. The incredible heat and absence of humidity allow it to come right out, and if you are not careful you’ll dehydrate in a snap.
We were escorted to camp Doja from the Airbase and stayed there, until 12. From there we were sent to this base that I am currently at but I don’t know the name of it, to execute some training exercises over the next 7-10 days. On the ride over here, I noticed a few things:
- If anyone thinks that I drive crazy come here and see how these people drive
- People in Kuwait drive better cars than most Americans (2/3 cars are Mercedes, 1/3 was some kind of truck)
- And lastly, I was of the opinion that all countries look like America in some sort of way. Well, I was right and wrong. Their roads (where they have them) are well-kept parkways, they kinda look like 28 in Chantilly. But the buildings I saw were crazy. They were all shades of color to include black. And these were city buildings. They were cramped sort of, but they all had their own shape. This was no cookie-cutter city. Don’t get me wrong, these buildings were nice and new-looking, but they all had their own ‘touch’. Anyways what also astounded me were businesses on the side of the road where there were no people. We would be driving through the desert for about 20 min. Nobody in sight, then all of a sudden there is a store, or a garage, or a Burger King… (yes I said Burger King).
Now finally I am here.
It really looks like it does on TV. Except it feels more depressing to be here. There’s nothing but sand and the occasional shrub. The sun really hurts my eyes here so now I HAVE to wear shades. It is so desolate, why are we fighting over this place again??? Oh yeah, oil…
Anyways if anybody wants to show me some love I could really use some money right now. AAFES, (Army Air Force Exchange Service) Charges us to do everything here. It’s no free ride, and I only have $15. I also need canned air, but there is no way y’all can send me packages, I’ll buy the air myself. (Sand is all in my laptop).
That’s it for now. I’ll keep you guys posted. Thanks and I love you all.
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