I thought I would submit a little update, since this is the first chance I have had to log on here since I left a week ago.

March 21 started with a 2am formation, and the final things that had to be done before flying out.  For me that included a TB test and a small pox innoculation.  Good thing I am several thousand miles from my wife, since I am going to be contagious for the next 3 weeks or so.

The flight was interesting.  First we flew from El Paso to Chicago.  Then Newfoundland.  Then to Keflavik, Iceland.

Each of those was a 90 minute layover.  The first long one was in Liepzig, Germany.  That was a planned 17 hour layover that turned into 20 hours because of engine problems.

We spent the entire time in a group of rooms about the size of a gym that has been set aside for traveling servicemembers.  It was not to bad, but the internet was expensive (9 euros per hour) so not many of us used it.  Probably the strangest part came when I realized I was in what used to be known as East Germany.  If I had been there during my last time in the military, I probably would have been shot as a spy.

Then came the hop to Kuwait.  A 28 hour layover, sleeping on a lounge chair in the terminal.  It is 19 years later then my unit arrived during GW1, but I finally made it.

Leaving the next day was surreal.  Taking the bus to the runway to catch a C-135 we could see the aircraft bunkers from the war.  There were probably 60 of them, and even though the roofs were 20' of reinforced concrete and dirt, there were massive holes blown into them.  And every one we could see had exactly one hole.  The Kuwaiti government simply abandoned them and built new ones a few miles away.

So I am now at my base, outside of Doho, Qatar.  A multinational compound, we have members from all the US forces, and also UK and Australia.  The housing is of the type that in the US it would make a slum look luxurious.  Rats the size of the taco bell dog can be found under the hootches, and it is hot and humid (85f, 85%) that we leave the air conditioners running 24-7.

I will try to get some photos in the next few days, to give an idea how alien this landscape really is.  I have lived most of my life in the desert, and it is nothing like this.  Not even Death Valley looked this barren.

But it's home for the next year or so, so I will have to make the best of it.

I got ahold of some pictures, so thought I would share them with you all.

These are unclassified.  They show damage caused by US forces during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm.  These are of Kuwaiti aircraft bunkers.  At the time they were damaged, they were in the possession of the Iraqi Air Force.  These are of the type that most of you have seen countless times on the news during the conflict.

There were several dozen of them that I saw, each one with a single bomb striking the top or side.  Once the base was reclaimed, the Kuwairi Air Force simply built new ones, turning these over to other tasks.

This is an overhead view of where I am making my home for the next year.

The image is unclassified, obtained from Google Maps.

This is the Coalition Compound.  Servicemembers from the US, UK, Australia, and other nations are billeted here.

The long white structures are the housing.  These are basically mobile homes, split into 28 2 person rooms, roughly 10'x10' each.  The tan structures are tents, used for short term or overflow housing.

At the center is the outdoor recreation area.  It is basically a large awning that covers tables and a stage.  This is where we go for Wi-Fi access.  To give an idea of the size, look at the cars in the parking lot to the bottom.  Or the Olympic sized pool just above it.

Because of how it looks from the side, it has been nicknamed "The Bra".  I will get a picture later showing this from the side.  ;D

To the right of the Bra is the exchange and food court.  The exchange is about 3 times the size of a standard 7-11.  And the selection is not much better.

The food court is all outside seating.  We have Burger King, Pizza Hut, Baskin-Robbins, and Subway.  But because they are roughly 150% the price stateside, they are not used that much by most people.

I will try to get some pics showing the camp from my view.  But since there are often 150+ trying to use the Wi-Fi, connection is spotty at best.

I wasn't aware you had been deployed.  Keep yourself safe and thank you so much for your service. :)

Congrats on getting out there.  Thanks for sending back what you can, and for being safe about what gets sent back.

(As someone who grew up with stories of WW2 tech, I loved those old bunker pics.  Back in the 90s, I never saw anything at higher resolution than dead-tree newspapers or NTSC video feeds... most of my recreational reading and gaming time was centered in an era when a 4-engined bomber and its crew might have gotten that lucky with one bomb out of its entire bombload.  By contrast, a certain Microprose game almost felt like cheating...  Almost.  :) )

I haven't been logging in every day either, lately, but those pics made my evening.  Not only do we have 20 years' worth of better tech out there, but we've also started to figure out that the technology is there to support the boots on the ground, not the other way 'round.

Thanks for being there.  Be safe, take care of your friends, and we'll be here when you get back.

Is the place you're stationed in Qatar called Camp As Sayliyah? I found a couple of sites on it:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-as-sayliyah.htm
http://europe.ctcd.edu/remote/qatar/assayliyah.php

There's even a Wikipedia article on it(although it's just a few sentences long):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Saliyah_Army_Base

Is the place you're stationed in Qatar called Camp As Sayliyah? I found a couple of sites on it:


Actually, I am at Camp Al Udeid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udeid.htm

Well, I just got back home a few hours ago.  I am currently home for my 2 week R&R leave.  I was not planning on taking it this early, but my wife goes in for surgery tomorrow, and I needed to be here for her.

Long trip.  I left Qatar Friday Morning, and arrived here Sunday afternoon.  Longet part was the 23 hour flight from Kuwait to Dallas via Germany.  23 hours.

One thing I will not miss for the next 2 weeks is the heat.  It has already been up to 135, and that is April.  Am dreading the temperature later on in the summer, then it gets to 140.  Even at night, it is often 90 or more already.

And Foo Bar, I will try to post some more "Bunker Shots" in the next day or so.  I took a bunch of them this time, since I was expecting to see them.  There were dozens of them all over the base.  And I got some great shots (I hope).  But to get an idea what it is like, check this out:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ali+al+salem+kuwait&sll=38.68551,44.956055&sspn=6.139217,9.84375&ie=UTF8&ll=29.352984,47.509968&spn=0.00692,0.009613&t=h&z=17

Hope all goes well tomorrow.

Well, I just got back home a few hours ago.  I am currently home for my 2 week R&R leave.  I was not planning on taking it this early, but my wife goes in for surgery tomorrow, and I needed to be here for her.

Long trip.  I left Qatar Friday Morning, and arrived here Sunday afternoon.  Longet part was the 23 hour flight from Kuwait to Dallas via Germany.  23 hours.

One thing I will not miss for the next 2 weeks is the heat.  It has already been up to 135, and that is April.  Am dreading the temperature later on in the summer, then it gets to 140.  Even at night, it is often 90 or more already.

And Foo Bar, I will try to post some more "Bunker Shots" in the next day or so.  I took a bunch of them this time, since I was expecting to see them.  There were dozens of them all over the base.  And I got some great shots (I hope).  But to get an idea what it is like, check this out:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ali+al+salem+kuwait&sll=38.68551,44.956055&sspn=6.139217,9.84375&ie=UTF8&ll=29.352984,47.509968&spn=0.00692,0.009613&t=h&z=17

I got ahold of some pictures, so thought I would share them with you all.

These are unclassified.  They show damage caused by US forces during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm.  These are of Kuwaiti aircraft bunkers.  At the time they were damaged, they were in the possession of the Iraqi Air Force.  These are of the type that most of you have seen countless times on the news during the conflict.

There were several dozen of them that I saw, each one with a single bomb striking the top or side.  Once the base was reclaimed, the Kuwairi Air Force simply built new ones, turning these over to other tasks.


  Professional landscaping courtesy of US Navy...

Well, I just got back home a few hours ago.  I am currently home for my 2 week R&R leave.  I was not planning on taking it this early, but my wife goes in for surgery tomorrow, and I needed to be here for her.


Welcome back... good to see you were able to take leave when you needed to.  Did my own share of eldercare not too long ago, but us civvies have it somewhat easier in that regard.

(Meanwhile, off to Google Maps.  Say, that's purty... :)

I thought I would upload a few things, since I have not updated this in ages.

First, this is not directly related to my deployment, but it does relate to my job.  This is a video I took last year when i was in Yuma, Arizona for a Joint Forces Air Defense exercise.  We were at the Barry Goldwater range, and for several days I was attached to a Marine STINGER team.

This video is really awesome.  It shows several close passes of a Soviet Mil Mi-24 HIND helicopter.  This is the same model that devistated the fighters in Afghanistan, and caused us to send them STINGERS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trOlpA6UhnY

Here is a pic some of you may have seen in a "Motivational Poster" I put up last week.  It was taken right outside of our exchange.

Here are some from Kuwait.  The first is a familiar sight to everybody, but in a much different form.

The others are Bomb Damage of Kuwaiti aircraft bunkers from Gulf War I.  These were all done by single US guided munitions.

Here are some from Kuwait.  The first is a familiar sight to everybody, but in a much different form.

The others are Bomb Damage of Kuwaiti aircraft bunkers from Gulf War I.  These were all done by single US guided munitions.




18 years later, the Kuwaitis have not repaired their bunkers? ???

Best of luck, Mushroom. Keep us posted!

18 years later, the Kuwaitis have not repaired their bunkers? ???


Well, it's not like they're expecting an invasion from Iraq any time soon :)

Hope your wife is ok

18 years later, the Kuwaitis have not repaired their bunkers? ???


Well, those bunkers are no longer used for aircraft.  Since the Gulf War, they have built newer, more modern bunkers at another portion of the air base.

These bunkers are so massive, it is not worth the effort to demolish them.  So they use them for storage, and maintenace buildings.  The War and American PGM's showed that they were worthless for their original purpose.

Well, it is 8:30pm here, and I am still trying to get my thoughts in some kind of working order.

One of the first things I found out when I came in this morning was that a friend of mine was killed earlier in the week in Iraq.  Staff Sergeant Ryan Zorn was riding in a vehicle in Iraq when it rolled over.  He was the only casuality in the vehicle.

This has been a real kick in the teeth for many of us.  I first met SSG Zorn in January 2008, when I joined my unit.  He was the NCO in charge of the Commo section.  A real good guy, we talked a lot about what it was like for me to join the Army as an "old fart".  He was about 10 years younger then me, but we had a lot of things in common.

I spent most of the day talking with other friends that remember him.  But since he left our unit in January, we will not be having an official rememberence ceremony for him.  Instead, several of us are going to get together tomorrow night and hoist a beer in his memory.

http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2009/11/19/news/today/news01.txt

He was a hell of a Soldier, and an outstanding NCO.  He will be sorely missed by many of us.

The following poster is now my desktop, and will likely remain so.  This is my friend arriving in Dover AFB on his trip home.