Week #13 - Kuwait

Well, here I am! For opsec reasons I didn't make a big announcement when we were leaving San Diego last week. But everything went about as planned. Returning from Thanksgiving, Monday was supposed to be the last day in the office in Imperial Beach. I took an HR certification exam Monday morning. To my surprise, I exited to multiple voice mails on my cell phone saying we were leaving later that day!

Cooler heads prevailed and we sorted things out with the Air Force. The departure was actually pushed back to Tuesday evening. On Tuesday we gathered in Imperial Beack for an 'all hands' muster, boarded busses for Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI), then had a send off ceremony there with three admirals as guest speakers. And then the waiting commenced.

Turns out there was a 'jumper' on the Coronado Bay Bridge that tied up traffic all afternoon and evening. The Gate Gourmet truck and the flight crew for our Northwest Airlines chartered 747 got stuck on the bridge, delaying our departure by at least an hour.

When we finally departed, I got to sit in the very front row of the aircraft. Even farther forward than the pilots! The cockpit on a 747 is on the upper deck, so the only thing separating the first row from the front of the aircraft is a small closet. Of course this was first class, and there was plenty of room. I got to sleep both nights we were traveling.

We went through Minneapolis, where they let us get off the aircraft and even go down to the tarmac and play in the snow. It was actually snowing a little at the time, likely the only snowfall I will have seen this winter (it was blue skies in Mammoth). Inside the terminal, an organization from Minneapolis provided muffins and some other food in a brown bag for us to take back on the aircraft. Honestly, I was not without food during this flight. In fact I didn't even eat my Minneapolis muffin until we got to Kuwait.

We had a layover in Europe somewhere, I can't even remember where now. They let us off the plane again. But it was fairly quick. Just another 'crew swap' and maybe we got some gas, I'm told the 747's are gas guzzlers.

We arrived in Kuwait early morning on Thursday. We were loaded on buses and marshalled for the convoy to the base. I was fortunate to get pulled off the bus and put in a SUV along with a select few other senior officers. That got us to the base about an hour earlier than the others, enough time to grab chow and get the lay of the land. My focus shifted to finding out where our luggage would be offloaded and helping with that process.

Long story short, we got our bags and got to our racks in the temporary berthing barracks. I'm told they are the same as the permanent barracks, or PCBs, just across the road from Camp Patriot, which is our compound on the Kuwait Naval Base. The officers and senior chiefs (E8, one rank below Richard) got put into the nicest PCB, basically one with smaller rooms built inside. There were signs telling people not to slam the doors, so I chose a room in the middle of the building.

So I've been here for a week as of this morning. Here's some highlights:

Lodging (berthing) -- Aside from being a little cold, the only problem we've experienced is the tendency to wake up at 0230 every morning. I guess that somehow corresponds to when we would wake up in San Diego. And the bottled water "goes straight through you" here, so I've had to get up and pee as many as three times in one night! Next week the officers and senior chiefs will move into the 'blue brick' buildings, two to a room.

Food -- Very good, but of course it will get monotonous. Had steak for dinner last, though, and it was delicious. One cool thing is the ice cream and milkshake bar. They say you will lose 25 pounds here, or gain 25 pounds!

Coffee -- Almost every building has a coffee pot, and there is a Starbucks-like trailer in the middle of the compound, with lines almost as long.

Internet -- I have access at work, but I'm actually typing this in the MWR building. Less likely to get interrupted by someone regarding work. I can get to my Gmail from here and even from the military computers, a nice surprise. There is also wireless everywhere, but it is notoriously slow, and you have to go find a strong signal. The wireless in the blue bricks is supposedly better.

Work -- I'm still the Admin Officer, but I'm giving my assistant more responsibility. I'm on the watchbill and he isn't. So he's got a desk in our office while I don't. Or at least a computer. I have a desk but last I saw it was being used for overflow storage. Which is fine, I almost need to be in our Operation Center for interaction with the rest of the Department Heads and higher. And that's where I stand watch.

Contact Info:

Here's my mailing address in case you didn't have it already, care packages are very welcome!

Mike Sharp
CTG 56.5
Camp Patriot
APO AE 09337

My military cell phone in case of emergency:
011-965-9721-7962

My military e-mail in case of emergency:
michael.e.sharp@kuwait.swa.army.mil

I'll try to post some more interesting stuff this weekend. Like pictures from our little Army-Navy game party!