So long Kuwait

Well my stay in Kuwait has come to pass. My main tasks there were to get acclimated to the time change and weather, plus fire my weapon to insure that it still works. Tasks related to my Army job was to get system administrative privileges, baseline some computers for the Kuwait network, set up a phone line and make sure my Commander could log into his computer and make calls from his phone – mission was accomplished.

In Kuwait we had to take combat showers because all water has to be shipped into Camp Buehring and each soldier is allowed 15 gallons of water per day. Here is how a combat shower works, you turn the water on, get wet, shut water off, lather up with soap, turn water on, rinse off, your done, get out – next!

While I was turning in my paperwork to get network access for my soldiers, I made small talk with one of the civilian Techs that works there and asked how much money he made, and he goes, “I am one of the lower paid guys year and my salary is $110K per year.” Not a bad gig, they do the same thing that I will be doing over the next 10 months. They are all contracted through ITT.

The day we need to go fire our weapons we had to get up at 0330. We left at 0400, drove an hour out into the desert to a range. While we were in route to the range we were briefed that we need to be careful not to shoot any camels as they kind of free-range out where we are going. If we were to shoot one, there is more paperwork involved with that incident verse a soldier getting shot. Apparently all these “organizations” have to come out and declare the value of the camel. In case you are interested, brown or black camels go for $8k a piece and white camels go for $100k a piece, why do you think white camels go for so much? If interested, send an email and I will tell you.

16AUG there was a “Victory in the Pacific” 5k race that a bunch of us Red Bulls participated in and wouldn’t you know that we had runners place in all the age categories(See the pictures) . I took 2nd in my age group with a 19:22 time and Grupe took third place. This was the start of my Medal collection… I am going to try and run all the 5k races, they usually have them on Holidays over here. We’ll see how many medals and T-shirts I can collect!

On 18AUG, a group of us decided to go and get haircuts. I can honestly say that the barber cut every single one, see this entries picture. I think I got finagled into this as the others did not get as close of a cut as I did, or it could be the fact that my hair is just not as thick as it used to be. We were all supposed to get a “high-fade” as seen in the pictures. We had a good time and good laugh watching everyone’s reaction to getting all their hair chopped off, I think It hurt me the worse as I am very protective of the hair I have. Now we will let the hair grow in and start growing mustaches, should be fun! The 18th of AUG is also the anniversary of my commissioning; I have been a commissioned officer for 6 years now.

I had heard rumors of a SPA on post, so I sent out to investigate and low and behold, I did find one, so I got myself a massage, 30 minutes for $21 bucks from a nice Filipino lady. The entire SPA is run by Filipinos, the do manicures, pedicures, and haircuts too. I think the massage also helped me beat the Kuwaiti krud. The entire base is powered by diesel generators, so it is loud, dirty and the air is just yucky. I run outside, about 40 miles a week and I am breathing in all that crap…so this is why I treated myself to a massage to help work all the toxins out of my body. After my massage, I stopped at Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) for a caramel frappuccino.

On 23AUG I entered a CARDIO-STREND competition which consisted of the following events: 100 floors on the Stair-stepper, 5 miles on the Elliptical and 2 miles on the treadmill. I came in third place, but not without controversy. There was no doubt Grupe had first place wrapped up with his astonishing performance on the elliptical, 5 miles in 15 minutes. Second place was a surprise as I thought I had it in the bag, but out of nowhere Bibeau snuck by me and stole away the silver. Apparently the trick to the elliptical was keeping it on level one and just push through it, I on the other hand had mine set on level seven, and took 30 minutes to go 5 miles... cost me the gold. So to insure Bibeau’s silver, he says to me, “let’s run the two miles on treadmills next to each other.” I was like sure…later to find out he knew he had beat me by 10 minutes on the elliptical so all he needed to do was stay within 10minutes of me on the 2 mile. The order of the medal presentation went Bronze, Silver, and Gold; when I did not place, I knew something was wrong. After the presentations were complete, I went to the judges and demanding a recount, I mean a re-add of the times…and sure enough, I at least came in third, stripping SFC Saladin of his medal! It was all good and we had fun!

The next day Grupe and I decided to run a 12 miler as it would be our last run in Kuwait. This is my longest run since I ran the Twin Cities marathon back in 2001. I felt pretty good, so afterwards I treated myself one more time to a massage, actually I got the full package, a foot spa, manicure and 30 minute massage from Melvy, boy did I sleep well that evening. The next day I got up, finished packing and left for Iraq later that day on a C130 flying high, very hot and super sweaty, miserable hour and half flight.

As always, enjoy the pictures.

Kuwait - I have arrived!

12AUG
I left Ft Sill Oklahoma on 10AUG and arrived to Camp Buehring Kuwait at 120330AUG08; for as fast as those two days went, they sure felt long. We flew on a DC10 with some Marines, Navy and Air Force soldiers; we were all just one big happy family. I did not sleep on the flight from Minnesota to Bangor Maine, but choose to watch the on board movie, “Fools Gold,” I thought it was ok. We had a 2 hour lay-over in Maine. We had a nice reception, there were prior Vets, VFW, Legion, and civilians there all through the day greeting soldiers and thanking them for their service. We used this same airport for when I came home from Bosnia. I used my time to send out a few quick emails and to also try and get my video player to work. I downloaded the latest codecs and drivers, but no luck…I was hoping to finish watching “The Godfather Part II.” Can you believe I have never seen those movies, well to say the least, I will get the whole series completed while here in Kuwait. Our next stop from Maine was Shannon Ireland, the movies for this round were “I am Legend” and “The Contract.” This was a 4.5 hour flight to Ireland where we were going to have a 2.5 hour layover there and again, I used the time to send out some quick emails, I think it was 0330 on 11AUG, I had been up for 20 straight hours at this point.

By this time I could not take it, I was getting easily annoyed and crabby. I decided to find I nice row of seats in the airport and passed out. I think I was able to squeeze in a 45 minute cat nap! I was awaken and told to get on the plane, next stop Kuwait, just 6.5 more hours to go. I do not know what it is, but my right knee just starts aching if I have to sit for more than a couple of hours, it is probably just old age settling in, I’ll have to ask MSG Olsen about that….I decided to get some more sleep because I knew once we got to Kuwait, it was going to be a long day. I woke up a couple of hours later to see my battle buddy resting nice and comfortably on my right shoulder, awww he was so cute, until I pushed him off of me….just joking! We both woke up and finished watching the movie, “Oceans 13 or 14 or 15,” one of those….

Once we made it to Kuwait, we had few stops before making it to our final destination, Camp Buehring. We unloaded the plane and immediately got on the bus, drove for a little while; I could swear they had speed bumps every 100 meters! We stop for a piss, smoke and water break. I think it was still on the Kuwait Airport. Next we drove to Camp Victory, there we unloaded our gear from one truck, got rid of the Marines and Seamen, loaded our gear on to another truck and headed North to Camp Buehring. Oh, Amy, I got a rock for you from Kuwait, there is nothing cool about it, other than it will be from Kuwait.

I think I slept most of the way; it was a quick 45 minute drive. Besides the first thing that comes to your mind when you think desert, that is exactly what this part of Kuwait looks like. A light tan, real fine sand, almost like the texture of cinnamon, but does not taste the same what-so-ever. How do I know you asked, because it is breezy here and any little gust, if your mouth is open, you’re getting some sand. The sun is also extremely bright here, I think it is because of the reflection off the sand, also the analogy of the blow dryer I stated in my last Blog, TRUE; it was 119 degrees today!

Upon our arrival, we got scanned in and brought to our new home for the next few weeks. After we unloaded our gear and got our living quarters situated (see pictures) we went and got some breakfast.

I had an omelet made my way (ham, cheese, green peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes) umm, umm, umm, plus some wheat toast with honey. I am going to have to start running soon, or the 15 lbs I lost will be found in no-time!! After breakfast we had time to shower and catch a nap before our next event, the welcome briefs ….. they went over dos and don’ts, possible threats, and safety concerns…dam it was tough to stay awake after only 4 hours asleep for the last 48….well, I made it….after which I went to the PX to get some supplies, then to dinner, then did some S6 (computer account stuff) wrote my blog and now I am going to bed, need to be up by 0300 to drive a hour into the desert to shoot my weapons, to ensure they work…..until next time – GOOD NIGHT!

One last thing, I have a new favorite song, hopefully it will be out on Karaoke by the time I get home next year, it is “All Summer Long” by Kidd Rock…I have a link to the video under My Favorite Songs.

Next Stop - Kuwait

As I reflect back on my days here at good ol’ Ft Sill, I come to realize 100 plus degree weather isn’t really that bad, but honestly, I do prefer the Minnesota weather. If I need to be in this type of climate, I much rather be sitting on a nice sandy beach in the Caribbean with a fruity drink or nice ice cold beer and beautiful scenery like beautiful women in their favorite swimsuit….oh, I must of started day dreaming there, sorry…..where was I , oh-yeah, Ft Sill. Well the past few weeks I have begun to turn-in some of the equipment I am signed for and certain rooms out at the airfield I was responsible for. Since I am leaving ADVON, I needed to do a 100% inventory of all the equipment I am signed for and sign it over to my NCOIC who will then make sure it gets all turned in and my hand receipt cleared. I did receive 99% of the automation equipment I requested so me and a couple of my soldiers made sure to get all them packed so they can ship STRATAIR. (BTW – I included an acronymfinder link under Links of Interest on the right)

I did a secure Video Conference with my counterpart via the internet using Adobe Breeze interface, that was cool. It is basically the same as using CISCO Meeting place, or along the lines of Skyping or Yahoo Video conferencing. Speaking of, my Skype handle is “chrispkline” so if you have a Skype account, look me up.

As for this Blog’s picture album, you have to be patient, I have my people sending me pics, but here are a few for your viewing pleasure:


To help keep the morale up and also show us that our leadership trusts us, they allowed for us to go off post for an evening to eat dinner as a section and to catch a movie. My section, S6, CSSAMO, the Chaplain and some peeps from the S1 all went to Meers Restaurant, somewhere out in the boonies. I got to say, the food was divine and the service was great! To top things off, if you can believe this, an Army Vet that was eating there picked up the tab for all 30 of us, over $400 bucks….he tried to sneak out, but we were able to rustle him back in and say THANKS!! We are also planning to do something for him as we got his business card….stay tuned.

Well Kolacky Days of Montgomery have come and gone, I heard the weather was nice…other than that sounds like I didn’t miss too much. No big bar brawls, marriage break-ups, or stabbings…I guess for the police, this year was kind of boring!?

There is one funny story I can include in this month’s Blog, it is a short story that I call “The Cockroach Hunters.” I do not remember the exact day this event took place, but I do remember the events of the day very vividly. I believe it was about 2300 hrs, and I had just drifted off to sleep when I was awakened by a loud “aaaaahhhhhrrrgggg!!! COCKROACH!!” from the Chaplain, then Grupe comes running out of the bathroom, yelling “COCKROACH!” By this time all of that were sleeping are up by now. The Chaplain then yells to turn on the lights, so WAM! Lights on, I roll over to see what is all the commotion and through my tired, sleepy, pasted eyes, I see Grupe with a broom… and he is stretching it as far as it can reach to attack the cockroach. The Chaplain then Yells, “Don’t smash it; you’ll get the eggs all over!” So here I see Grupe ever-so-gently-trying to squish the cockroach…after that I knew it was all safe and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Just a few days ago we had the Big Farewell Ceremony and BBQ Bash. The Governor came down, senators, the TAG, the DIV Commander, a whole bunch of supporters from MN to cook us steaks and a live performance from JB Layton. More importantly, my favorite visitors were my parents, sister, nephew, niece, grandpa and friend Verna all came to visit for a few days. I took them to see Geronimo’s Grave, the Historic Medicine Hill Bluffs and a mini tour of Fort Sill. We spent most of our time hanging out by the pool, enjoying the weather and some tasty beverages. They all just left a couple of days ago, and they all owe me pictures!!!

Verna and I did make a trip up to Oklahoma City (OKC) where we attended a Reggae festival and also went to see the OKC Bombing Memorial.

Well that wraps it all up from Fort Sill, the next entry will be from Kuwait, where I hear it is even warmer. I think someone explained it to me like this – if you want to know what it is like, take a hair dryer, put it on high, aim it right at your face, and then try to breathe…. So it may take a little getting use to. As always, enjoy the pictures.