Apparently, it has become a special treat to drive over to FOB Diamondback for a meal every now and then. Because I needed to go to the APO to mail Gabe’s birthday present, I went with the gang for lunch at Diamondback yesterday. I would say that the grass is always greener, but we don’t have any grass here like they do in Tikrit! Anyway, the food was fine, nothing really to write home about. That still doesn’t keep me from blogging about it though. After lunch, Glenn and I went to the barber, Robert ran an errand, Jeremy wandered around the PX, and Sarah went to the beauty shop. After I got my $3 haircut, we went to the APO. They still haven’t fully recovered from the old APO burning down. The forms counter is a folding table on the sidewalk.
You stop at this table first and fill out your customs form. Then you proceed inside the warehouse to have your package inspected. After inspecting the contents, the clerk seals the package and affixes the customs form and any other required labels. Finally, you go to the counter, have your package weighed, and pay the post.
Gabe’s birthday package is on the way. For Josiah’s birthday back in November 2007, I bought him a wooden puzzle box. You have to figure out the secret to get it open. Inside the box, Josiah found a 10,000 Iraqi Dinar note. For Christmas, I bought Gabe his own puzzle box, because he liked Josiah’s so much. The trick to opening Gabe’s box is different than the trick for Josiah’s box. When Gabe finally got his box open, he discovered that it was empty. I guess that’s been on his mind since Christmas because in his email this week he wrote “was there meant to be anything in my box?”.
I’m sitting in an internet cafe on Ali Al Salem (AAS), the major US staging area in Kuwait. I arrived on AAS at about 0200 this morning. The next 30 minutes were spent in typical Army fashion: 10 minutes of break time, 10 minutes of standing in line, and 10 minutes of briefings. I then went to meet the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) liaison officer (LNO) to arrange processing into the Gulf Region Division (GRD). I’ll try to use as many acronyms as possible! Then from 0230 to about 0350, I sat in the USACE cubicle while he had to process some individuals that needed to go to the embassy. Finally, he helped me pick up my 4 duffle bags and showed me to a bunk in the USACE tent. After handing me some linen, the LNO instructed me to check in around lunch time today to find out when I’ll be moving up to Mosul. When I got up this morning at about 1115, my flight was listed on the board for 2200 tonight. So today I just get to enjoy the amenities of AAS!
This place is pretty amazing. In the tent city, there are about 20 rows of tents; each row contains approximately 15 tents; and each tent sleeps at least 20 individuals. That’s temporary accomodations for about 6000 personnel! I must say that this temporary sleeping arrangement is more comfortable than any time I’ve ever gone to the field before. Each tent has it’s own air conditioner. It works suprisingly well even in this environment. When we landed at the Kuwait International Airport at 2200, the temperature was still 104! Anyway, after I woke up, I walked down to the end of my row of tents and went to the shower trailer. The are numerous male and female shower trailers throughout tent city. Then I ate some lunch in the dining facility (DFAC). After luch, I went to the post exchange (PX) to buy some chap stick. Then I went to the barber shop to get my real deployment haircut. It’s short! The young middle-eastern man that gave me the cut did a really nice job. He caught me off guard at the end when he put this massage tool on his hand and gave me a scalp massage! Maybe he thought it would help more hair to grow. After the haircut, I went to the Green Beans coffee shop and got a cappuccino, the first good cup of coffee I’ve had since leaving Virginia! Now here I sit, drinking cappuccino and blogging.
