26MAR08
Kuwait…sandy Kuwait.
Well, I made it to Kuwait. I’ve been here almost a week and will be here for a couple more weeks. Kuwait is a launching point for troops going to Iraq. It’s a time for everyone to regroup from the plane trips, get your equipment together and do some final training before we go north.
The other day we went to one of the many ranges in the middle of the desert to fire our weapons. Everyone shoots his/her weapon before heading north to Iraq….just to make sure they still work and can still hit the target. We also do additional weapons training like convoy live fires, general weapons familiarization, crew served weapons (machine gun) training and a few navigation excercises.
Navigating in the open desert can be tough. We rely heavily on satellite navigation equipment. There just aren’t any terrain features to navigate with. When you stand out in the desert you can literally see for miles and miles in any direction and see nothing but sand. Anything that lives in the desert has got to be tough so we just leave it alone (camels, spiders, snakes, Bedouins).
That’s me standing in the middle of Camp Beuhring. The camp can hold up to 20,000 soldiers and their stuff. We currently have most of that number here. It’s huge. There is no privacy, there are lines everywhere (PX, chow hall, showers) but that’s just the way it is here. Fortunately we don’t have to stay here that long. I’ll try to give you a glimpse of the camp every so often. Internet access here is hit and miss but I should get another chance to drop some more entries before I leave.
Everyone here is U.S. Army, civilians supporting the army, coalition forces getting ready to go north (mainly English and Australian) or a local national working on the camp in dining facilities or maintenance jobs. We have a Starbucks (just as expensive as back home), KFC, Burger King, and a few other U.S. food chains. Just enough to keep you in touch with thing back home.
Everything in the camp is painted tan or white. There are no plants or grass…just sand and gravel. Very plain. Right now the temperatures are about 100 degrees each day and 70 at night. Sand is constantly blowing…some days worse than others.
That’s it for now. I’ve got some more work to do. Take care and write when you can. My main e-mail is jlurch@aol.com
Joel
Kuwait…sandy Kuwait.
Well, I made it to Kuwait. I’ve been here almost a week and will be here for a couple more weeks. Kuwait is a launching point for troops going to Iraq. It’s a time for everyone to regroup from the plane trips, get your equipment together and do some final training before we go north.
The other day we went to one of the many ranges in the middle of the desert to fire our weapons. Everyone shoots his/her weapon before heading north to Iraq….just to make sure they still work and can still hit the target. We also do additional weapons training like convoy live fires, general weapons familiarization, crew served weapons (machine gun) training and a few navigation excercises.
Navigating in the open desert can be tough. We rely heavily on satellite navigation equipment. There just aren’t any terrain features to navigate with. When you stand out in the desert you can literally see for miles and miles in any direction and see nothing but sand. Anything that lives in the desert has got to be tough so we just leave it alone (camels, spiders, snakes, Bedouins).
That’s me standing in the middle of Camp Beuhring. The camp can hold up to 20,000 soldiers and their stuff. We currently have most of that number here. It’s huge. There is no privacy, there are lines everywhere (PX, chow hall, showers) but that’s just the way it is here. Fortunately we don’t have to stay here that long. I’ll try to give you a glimpse of the camp every so often. Internet access here is hit and miss but I should get another chance to drop some more entries before I leave.
Everyone here is U.S. Army, civilians supporting the army, coalition forces getting ready to go north (mainly English and Australian) or a local national working on the camp in dining facilities or maintenance jobs. We have a Starbucks (just as expensive as back home), KFC, Burger King, and a few other U.S. food chains. Just enough to keep you in touch with thing back home.
Everything in the camp is painted tan or white. There are no plants or grass…just sand and gravel. Very plain. Right now the temperatures are about 100 degrees each day and 70 at night. Sand is constantly blowing…some days worse than others.
That’s it for now. I’ve got some more work to do. Take care and write when you can. My main e-mail is jlurch@aol.com
Joel
1 comment:
Hi Joel... just wanted to let you know we're thinking about you and wishing you the best. Please let Sherrie and the girls know if they need anything to please feel free to call us. We're more than happy to help. Stay safe my friend and hope you can come home soon.. After all, we still have that bar-B-Cue to throw... remember, the one we've talking about for the past two years... :-) Take care of yourself my friend.. hope to see you soon.
Roland
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