I SUCK

I do. Haven't been keeping up on the blog. For a bunch of reasons I guess. None of which are because I'm too busy, so really no excuse. Things have remained pretty much the same since I last checked in. Just grinding these last couple months out. We did get some slightly bad news today. The guys/gals that are relieving us were supposed to be here on the 5th. They're not coming until the 12th now. Apparently something to do with ice storms in the states. I have been told that this will not affect our departure date. Just the amount of time we have to train the new guys. I hope this is true because I made reservation to go to Rehoboth Beach on Mar 12/13th to visit the Dogfish Head brewery. They are unveiling a new beer that weekend.

One of the reasons I haven't blogged as much is because I can never think of anything to write about that I think people would be interested in reading. So I spend some of my downtime trying to come up with ideas, and I came up with this one awhile ago, and wanted to wait a little closer to the end to do it. Here goes:

STATISTICS FROM MY DEPLOYMENT

Total days in Kuwait: 270

Toiletries:
Rolls of toilet paper used: 4
Tubes of toothpaste: 3 (brushed twice a day)
Tubes of toothpaste received in care packages: 78
Toothbrushes: 2
Bottles of Shower Gel: 4 (Once a day)
Bottles of Shampoo: 4 (Once a day)
Loofah: 2
Bars of deodorant: 2 (Once a day)
Laundry Detergent: 4 (Once a week, 2 loads)(50oz containers)

Fast Food:
Taco Bell: 4x
Burger King: 4x
Great Steak: 3x (Their cheesesteaks are the worst, but their burgers are pretty good)
Subway: 3x
Pizza Inn: 7x

All of those places are not good tasting and I visited these simply for a change from the DFAC. The DFAC serves the same food every Monday, every Tuesday, etc..

Work Related:

5k's worked: 44
5K's ran: 1
Calls for suspicious packages: 12
Actual suspicious packages: 2
Times I fired a weapon: 0
Times I drove a Humvee: 0
Celebrities met: 4.5
Men supervised: 13
Amount that are younger than me: 1
# of days I checked Facebook: 270

Thats all I can think of for now. If there is one you'd like to know, let me know. I will cover the weather in the next one.

Go Flyers!

Slow and Steady

It's been a week since my last post. Sorry about taking so long to post. There just hasn't really much going on to write about. Possibly it could be that I'm just not creative enough (lazy) to come up with a good topic. The other problem, is the last two topics I was going to write about turned out to be a bust.

First, I figured I'd talk a little bit about the change in weather. I waited for about a week of "colder" weather to declare it fall here and write about it. I figured I'd talk about how I was freezing cold at night as the temps go down to 78 degrees. No joke. I'm shivering in 78 degree weather. I put on a sweatsuit in 87 degree weather. Also, those nasty winds and sandstorms came to a halt. It was nice. Anyway, the day I decided to write about fall beginning in Kuwait, mother nature played a joke on me. It ended up being in the 100's and a sandstorm rolled through. So much for my story about the fall weather.

The other story I was going to tell actually still is a pretty good story, but not the story I had originally planned on sharing. I accidentally left my mp3 player in my pant pocket when I dropped my uniforms off to get washed and pressed. We drop them off at a trailer on base, and they take it an hour and a half away to Kuwait City to be cleaned. I figured it was safe to assume that it was long gone. So that was going to be my story. For the heck of it, I figured I'd at least go over and ask the guy at the trailer if it got turned in. He looked at me and told me no, it hadn't been turned in. He also told me the odds of getting it back were slim to none. He said usually the stuff gets tossed in the washing machine, it comes out ruined/broken, so they just throw it away, and you can't count out theft either. Regardless, he said he would give his boss a call down in Kuwait City, to be positive. I went back the next day expecting to confirm my thoughts. Surprisingly, it got turned in, in working order and all. Actually, he seemed more surprised than I was. So, that story had a happy ending to it. I just have to remember to take better care of the mp3 player and to check my pockets twice before I drop them off.

The Journey

We'll I've been in Kuwait for about 2 weeks or so now (I completely lost track of days on the trip over). I'm still trying to get adjusted to everything. Internet is terrible at the moment, but they are supposed to be upgrading soon. Accommodations are OK I guess. Could be better, could be worse. No need to complain.

So anyway, I figured I'd start out my first blog over here by going back to the trip here. Its a long story so you might have to take a sick day or read a little bit a day to get through it, or I made some cliff notes at the bottom if its really too much for you to read.

As I said, I kind of lost track of days, but I'm pretty sure we left Seattle on the 3rd/4th of June. We had to exit the barracks at around 1am so they could be inspected before we left to make sure they were the same as when we got them. We sat outside for about 2 hours while that went on. At 3am we loaded our gear into a tractor trailer and headed to Sea-Tac. We would be going to South Carolina. We were divided up into about 8 groups of 6, give or take, and each group was on a different flight. They were commercial flights. We were told we would be going on a military flight to Norfolk previously, but apparently that went through.

Our bags totaled in weight about 500lbs each, so carrying them around was tough. My flight left at 6am and we had a layover in Cincinnati. That flight was forced to ask people to take another flight because it was over the weight limit. Most likely because of our baggage. Sorry. While in Cincinnati, we decided to grab lunch. Two of us chose "Worlds Best Cheesesteaks". Terrible. I'd like to talk to the person who told them they fit that bill. A man in line ahead of us paid for our lunch. We told him thanks but no thanks politely, but he insisted. I wanted fries and a soda, but since he was buying I felt guilty for some reason so I just got a sandwich. The guy with me said the same thing. He wanted a large sandwich, but got the small instead. It was really nice of him regardless. When we arrived in Charleston, we had to retrieve our 500lbs of gear and load it onto a small box truck. We had about a 30-45 minute ride to a small Army base there. I think it was near Ft. Jackson, but I'm not positive. We were in a classroom there that happened to have a shower in it. It had been awhile since I had showered last, it was about 7pm est by then. So I took advantage of that. We were to fly out at 1am that night. So we just sat in that classroom for about 4 hours when they announced our flight had been cancelled and that we would be stuck there till 9am the following day. Great. Classroom full of about 175 people for another 9 hours.

When we get to the airport the next morning we were greeted by about 50 or so people who came to see us off. VFW, Purple Heart Assoc, USMC Ret Assoc, boy and girl scouts just to name a few. Apparently there were triple the people the previous night when they thought we were supposed to be leaving. They had tons of food, care packages, prayer cards and things of that sort. It was really nice. They all wanted to shake your hand, give you a hug, wish us safe. You really felt like you were supported. Once everyone got a bite to eat and chatted with the people there, they formed two lines for us to walk between on our way to the plane. They were holding flags. It was rather moving to be honest. I didn't really expect any of it. I guess since this has been going on for so long, I had assumed people weren't as "motivated" as they were when the war first started. Not sure where I'm going with that, but hopefully you get the picture. The plane held about 350 and there were only 175 us and they seated by rank, so I got my own row which was nice.

Now here is where I completely lose track of all time. I have no idea how long these flights were. Our first stop was Goose Bay, New Foundland, Canada. For customs reasons we weren't allowed off here. We were there for maybe an hour or so while we refueled. Our next stop was Reykjavik, Iceland. Again, not sure what time it was there, but most of the airport was closed. No one was in it, so I'm guessing late at night, but you wouldn't know it because the sun is out 24 hours a day there this time of the year. The commanding officer of the flight allowed us to have one beer. The bar was closed. There was a gift shop open that sold like 10oz bottles of wines. Guys were buying them up like it was going out of style, like this was there last chance to have alcohol, ever. I passed. We were there about 2-3 hours. We departed for Leipzig, Germany. Once we landed we were informed we were going to have a 16 hour layover. There was a military terminal that had Internet and phones, for a hefty price, they also had food, a few gift shops and beds. I went straight for the beds where I stayed for 9 hours. I woke up grabbed a bite to eat and had two beers. Jumped on the net for 15 minutes (all I could afford) and then watched some TV before we got back on the plane. I'm not sure why such a big layover, but I know the Germans were raking in money there. Coincidence?

We arrived in Kuwait at 3am on what I'm going to guess was either Sunday or Monday. It wasn't very hot. It did smell terrible. We loaded our bags onto two tractor trailers and after a few hours we headed to Camp Virgina, which is about 30 minutes from the base I'm at now. Once at Camp Virginia, we unloaded our gear and moved into 12 man tents. They weren't all that bad. They had cots. We went right to sleep there since we had a brief in a few hours. After the brief we loaded all of our gear up again and went to Camp Arifjan which was about 2 hours away. Just a reminder I'm 30 minutes from my base. We get to Camp Arifjan around 9 or 10 pm. Unload all of our gear again and this time we move into 8 man tents and again we all just went to bed. We had to go to boring briefs and power point presentations. Mostly the same stuff as the briefs at Camp Virginia just longer. It's hot, drink water, drive safe, those types of things.

Death by power point lasted about 2 and a half days before we again loaded all of our gear (still 500 lbs) into a tractor trailer and went back up north to my final destination, Camp Beuhring. The accommodations are better here than the other places. I only have one roommate. I have a bed. The base is seriously in the middle of no where desert.

So that's pretty much it for the trip. If you read all of it great. If not, do you know how long it took me to write it? Are you really that busy or are you just that lazy? Just kidding. I might not even proofread this one its so long. Below is the cliff notes I promised.

CLIFF NOTES
The trip was long and arduous.

It starts.... Sort of..

Real quick background info first. I'm a US Navy Master-At-Arms. I was active duty for 5 years and have been a reservist for two. I have been selected as an individual augmentee. I will be performing 400 days of duty somewhere in Kuwait with the US Army.

Ok. Day one. Friday Mar 27th. I arrive at Naval Operational Support Center in Wilmington Delaware. After a few hours of paperwork, I'm given my plane tickets. My flight goes out from Philly at 7am the following Sunday. That day was also the day my Dad was having the Grand Opening of his new store. So my Mom and I decided to check on him, say hello and go to lunch. So we do that and on our way home from lunch I get a phone call from the Navy telling me not to get on that plane. Turns out I have a cavity and apparently cavities and deployments do go together. So my flight is rescheduled for Wed April 1st (my Moms Bday), and I have now have a dentist appointment almost 2 hours away at Ft. Meade. So, I got the cavity filled and headed out on Wednesday. My parents and my fiance Christina took me to the airport. Goodbyes were a little rough as expected.

The flights went well. I even got upgraded to economy plus (about 4 more inches of legroom) by the people at check-in since I was military. Someone from the Navy picked me up from Oxnard, CA and took me to the processing center at Port Hueneme. Here is where all of our initial paperwork is done. We get our shots, uniforms, dog tags, briefings etc. Most people do it in 5 days. I had two. So to say I was a rushed would be an understatement. But Everything went without a hitch and I stayed on schedule.