As I woke up on the plane and checked the planes GPS, I noticed we were over northern Iraq. This was finally happening. The months of preparing was finally looking like it would be worth it. Looking out the first class window of our 767 I saw the oil fields of Iraq with their flaming towers.
As we made our approach into Kuwait City I watched out the window for anything that would help me feel like maybe I wasn’t actually in Kuwait.
Maybe I could trick myself into believing that this was all a stint in Fort Hood, TX. I did happen to see the one thing that can be seen anywhere in the world, the golden arches of McDonalds. I have eaten at McDonalds in Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and of course the US. I doubt I’m going to find the time to hit one up in Kuwait for the few days I’ll be here before heading to our next destination. Taxing down the runway I noticed my hands becoming sweaty, my leg bouncing uncontrollably, and a sinking feeling in my stomach. There is no way this is Texas. Looking out the window, even though it was 2200, the moon was full enough to notice that there was no sign of green plant life, a trend that would prove to be the standard on the first leg of my journey. When we got off the plane we found out that somehow the buses had been sent to pick us up with no baggage truck. Just myself, I had a rolling duffle bag, a rucksack with my IOTV inside, a footlocker, an assault bag (back pack), my M16A2 rifle and my laptop bag. Multiply that by the 46 soldiers in the 5th Platoon of the 295th Ordnance Company that made the trip and you will see the need for more than 2 Kia busses. 20 lower enlisted were left at the plane to unload the plane and load the truck when it finally arrived. The rest of the platoon got on our bus and went to a holding area to get off the runway and wait.
We took the opportunity to get out and stretch our legs from our 17+ hours of travel. It was about 50 degrees with a nice cool breeze blowing off the Gulf. I have always been told that Kuwait smells like a land fill, but was pleasantly surprised to take a deep breath of nothing but gulf air and the diesel that powers all the generators located everywhere. Around 2330 the other bus showed up along with the loaded baggage truck. What should have been a simple task of meeting up and rolling out turned into about a half hour ordeal which was simply explained to us as a language barrier. The trip to our base, Ali Al Salem, was only supposed to take 1hr and 15 min. I was told to keep the window curtains on the bus closed for safety but that didn’t last long. This being my first tour overseas I just had to look out and see what was out there. The moon had everything lit enough to see a half mile or so, just far enough to see why Kuwait could possibly smell like a landfill when the sun is high and the wind isn’t coming off the gulf. A barren wasteland of sand and garbage as far as the eye could see. The roads leave much to be desired. The bus cruised on down the road to the north with its insistently squeaky shocks moaning from the rough road. The only sign of plant life were trees that lined the road. But even they weren’t green. They stood sparsely in a row, grey and covered with dust. A ways out of Kuwait City at around 0030, in the middle of the lanes of the road there were groups of people playing soccer on sand covered fields with no lights other than that of the moon. Run down cars were prevalent, abandoned along the roadside. Chain link fences also trace the road ways, their purpose evades me however as they are falling over and dilapidated. The country as a whole is desperate for a little TLC, and a police call. At about 0130 we finally approached the front gate of Ali Al Salem, and then drove on by. The guys who had been in country before said the only possible place we could be going is Camp Buehring. At around 0200 we came to the turn off for Buehring, and kept on trucking. Ok we’re either lost or on our way to Iraq at this point. Driving on for about 10 min past the Buehring turn, the convoy leader, a Kuwaiti escort in an SUV, did a U turn and took us back to Buehring. We cleared our weapons at the gate and made our way to the command building. 7 or 8 detours and U turns later we found our way to our home for the next few days. We were assigned two tents. In one tent, 42 two males, shoulder to shoulder on cots along with all of our baggage. In the other tent of equal size, 4 females, one of the few breaks they catch, even though I’m not entirely sure they even used it.
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