But it's a dry heat...

Still here in Kuwait, adjusting, and working on final training issues. Got to go back for a minute about the trip here. Again what a view of our planet it was... I was glued to the window, and really enjoyed it. I paid for it later while trying to adapt to a small cot, hi temps, and the whole 44 folks in a group deal. One thing of note, it was pretty neat to be able to wear a sidearm on an airliner...it was a military contracted flight, so chances of things getting ugly was slim, but it was still comforting. Did I tell you that when we landed at Bangor ME we were met by about 45 people from a local VFW, clapping and cheering for us as we got off the plane? Wasn't really ready for that...it was great to have the support.

Back to life at 122 degrees... We have water available everywhere we go...sitting on pallets, free for the taking. Most of us are downing about 4 liters/day, maybe more. We did a 1 mile hike to a briefing at 2 p.m. one day. and the water in my camel back was actually hot...I almost burned my tongue on the first draw from it, the first 18" of water from the tube was nearly scalding! Also of note is how hot your feet get in the sand. Some folks have had blisters to deal with. The weather is incredible, last time it rained was may25th, not going to rain til the end of October. It gets down to 85 degrees at night, 120+ in the day, the lowest ever recorded temp at night in Kuwait was 78 degrees...amazing! Strong winds from the north nearly every day.

Overall, we've done well, only a couple heat casualties (minor dehydration). Driving around here to the ranges for some weapon firing, you see we are clearly in the middle of nowhere. There is little to see. Once in a while we see a herder with some camels, or sheep, and nothing to eat at least not visible to us. Which reminds me, I have a bunch of pics to email to my son for the blog, but my time on the computer here is limited, and the email is too slow to send pics - I'll have to wait til I get my own Internet set up at Anaconda. So, go back once in while and look at the previous blog, and remember, you can left click to enlarge the photos...

Back to the curious water situation here, all h2o is trucked in, stored above ground. There is no cold water like for brushing your teeth...try that tonight at home, with hot water...yuk! We are limited to a few gallons per day/soldier, so we do "combat showers" - get wet, turn it off, lather, rinse quick and get out. I imagine during the winter months, they actually use the water heaters, and tooth brushing is a more pleasant experience (not easy for us northern boys who are used to 55 degree water from our tap). Overall we are well, and tired of staying here. We should be headed north soon. We have almost completed every one's 2 environmental flights, 1 day flt, and 1 nvg. Boy was that a hoot at night!! It looks like the surface of the moon...little or no terrain definition, very difficult to keep our same altitude. Not much room for error when we're only at 100'. It'll take a few more flts to get better at, although, there are some trees and brush where we are going, so it may be slightly easier, we'll see. Under nvgs, we flew to areas where we could still see the berms and barriers from 1991, Desert Storm. Remember that big long trench 5 mile from the border they showed on the news all the time? If you went past it, you were getting close to the Iraqi border...we were flying along it, and near some monster power lines that are between there and the Iraqi border. Pretty cool!

DNR notes - of course, I'm always looking for the flora and fauna, and have only seen 2 birds in this area...you won't believe this, but all we have here are stupid pigeons sitting on our water tower, and of course, English sparrows. I couldn't believe it! No other soaring birds, raptors, songbirds or nothing. Oh curse the man who first transported the Eng Sparrow, and his stupid brother who brought us the lovely carp...both I'm sure without permits (sorry, its a dnr thing...). Hey remember how I try to talk to all kinds of folks in the dining facility? I've met some pretty cool people that way. Got to talking hunting and fishing the other day, and by the end of lunch, I learned how to catch a 4-5 ft alligator, and skin it, and where the best meat is...cool, huh? That's about it for nature notes. Oh, we did have a kangaroo rat run by my bunk, but was too quick to get a pic...... sorry, maybe next time.

New thing for me to get used to, all the electric here is 230v. We all have to buy converters to use our regular goodies. Some folks have blown circuits forgetting about the change. Laundry here is interesting too...drop off our items, it's all very well itemized, then pick it up at 4, 3 days later, all nicely wrapped and wrinkled (not like we have to be in fancy suits or anything)...we can still be all we can be in slightly wrinkled uni's. All the laundry goes to Kuwait City and returns. There is even more food to eat here than there was at Ft sill...just what we need. Lots more choices, but not quite as tasty as Sill. I have questions about some of the meat sources, taste is o.k. but I have to wonder about Habib's camel or Akmeds goat...nah, it must be all legal or they wouldn't be serving it. Well I need to go now, if anyone is late for any training here, the First Seargant bought a nice" Hello Kitty " backpack we can wear...don't want to be the first one for that. Some of our folks have already gone north in small numbers to prep our area to move to. I've heard some say their guts are in a knot, a little nervous about our job we have to do. We just want to start flying and doing our jobs...and then go home. I love you all, and thanks for the support and prayers. It means a lot to me and the others. It's going to be a very busy schedule in Balad. I'll try to squeeze in another blog once I get settled...see ya.