We are told we will spend about 4 days here while we in-process and wait for our flight to the next stop on our tour, Kandahar Afghanistan. By the time I got to sleep it was 0600. I had planned to sleep for 3 hours and get up to go to eat at the chow hall and explore the base in search of the PX. When I did wake up I found it to be 1730. I was told to that I needed to pack ASAP because our Platoon Sergeant put out that we may be leaving at 1730. After thanking everyone for setting me up for failure by letting me sleep, I packed my things. It was at that point that I realized that I had slept for 11.5 hours through all the ruckus of everyone throughout the day and the lights being on. A short time later we were told that we would not be leaving until the following night. I took the opportunity to find a buddy and go explore. At around 2000 I grabbed SGT Trimble and we started walking. We had no idea where anything was and the base is very large.
We wear only our ACUs or APFUs. No weapons, as they are guarded back at the tent, and no protective gear. The defensive posture in Kuwait is very low. First thing we happened upon was a Starbucks. We walked on by as that wasn’t what we were looking for. I was after a power adapter, a watch and the internet. A little ways further we found a mini downtown kind of area with many shops and a few places to eat. I first went to the PX/BX and bought my power strip. It was here that I was introduced to my first pogs. Instead of using American change on Iraqi and Kuwaiti posts they use pogs with monetary amounts on one side and a military image on the other. We then found the CyberZone. I bought an hour’s worth of time for around 8 bucks. I updated my Facebook status and wrote my wife an email. The speed of the web nearly melted my face off as that simple process took me 22 minutes. While I waited for Mike to finish on the web I went out into the courtyard and decided to hit up the 24 hour KFC.
I ran into our Platoon Sergeant SFC Erlandson and he showed me that when you buy a small drink you get a small 6 ounce or so can of soda. If you buy a medium you get a 12 ounce can. If you buy a large you get one of each. By the time SGT Trimble was done, most of the shops were closed so I conceded to buying my watch tomorrow. On our way back we hit up the Starbucks. It was every bit as nice as any store back in the states.
We walked back to the tent which was maybe a half mile walk or so. I decided to kill some time by doing a little gaming. Our platoon purchased a wireless router before we left for gaming and our techies built us a dedicated server. At least half of the platoon plays a few of the games together that we have cracks of. At 0000 it was time for Midnight Chow. After wondering around for a while we found the only DFAC that serves Midnight chow. It was back over by the Starbucks. This was the first time I had eaten in the chow hall since had been here since I had slept for so long. I was very impressed with the size of the facility and the selection. After our short walk back we found the lights off in the tent for the first time since we arrived. As I type in the dark there are only a few lit monitors as people watch movies, play games and type out their thoughts of the day, and one very loud snorer. We had started the trip with 2 snorers, but one went home shortly after we arrived in Ft Sill when he passed out and it was discovered that he had a brain tumor. If our base is anything like Buehring, this won’t be too bad of a deployment as long as the living accommodations get a little more private. Toilets are potra-potties only, but I imagine that that is how it will be for the duration. The showers are located in a trailer. Each 50’ trailer has about 12 showers and 5 or so sinks in it. The floors are wet and it smells horribly like mold and mildew but the water is warm and the pressure is good. Tomorrow should be uneventful until 1700 or so when we plan to pack up and get on our way to Afghanistan.
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