Camp Buehring, Kuwait

I've been here at Camp Buehring, Kuwait for about 10 days now and am just starting to get used to being the in middle east. I should be heading to Iraq sometime next week. To say the terrain is desolate would be a wild understatement. The only life of any kind here other than the soldiers walking around kicking up dust are the incessant flies and occasional camel spiders. Everything else is powdery sand that is much more like dirt. The few buildings we have here are hardly more than trailers or warehouse style garages. The only other structures here are large tents where we sleep. Imagine an enormous refugee camp on the planet Tatooine (minus one sun of course) and you will pretty much have the right vision of where I live. I live in an approximately 2,000 square ft. tent with the rest of my 80 soldier cavalry troop. Personal space is scarce.

Camp Buehring functions as the main staging area for units like mine on the verge of heading north into Iraq. We spend about half of each day in classes or last minute small-arms training and the other half the day sitting on our cots, working out in the gym or using the wifi in the one foothold of western capitalism in the middle east, Starbucks. Yes, you can defend an emerging nation from radical islamic terrorists and get your Grande Coffee Frappuccino at the end of the day too. War certainly has changed since D-Day. The training has varied from briefings on the latest insurgent tactics to working in Hummvee (our main combat vehicle) rollover simulators. Being the eco-friendly beacon of freedom that we truly are, the army has recycled destroyed Hummvees, hooked them up to amusement-park style rotation devices and developed some super fun training for all of us wide-eyed combat soldiers. The beginning of the briefing confirms that yes, neck and spinal injuries are fairly common so be sure to tuck your head when you crash into the ceiling. We get in the rebuilt Hummvee wearing all 60+lbs of our body armor/assorted gear and wait for the human washing machine to get rolling. Once I was upside down and sufficiently regretting my decision to leave my Dramamine back in the tent, the instructors yell "Exit the vehicle!". The air is quickly filled with a cacophony of seat belts unfastening, soldiers falling on their heads and an assortment of curses from the back seat that would make a sailor blush. I was one of the fortunate few who got the advice to open your door while dangling upside down and then flip out of the vehicle once you unfasten your belt. A quick flip that would have made Kerri Strug proud and I was able to escape the Hummvee and avoid being paralyzed.

I'm definitely looking forward to leaving Kuwait and getting settled into my Forward Operating Base in Iraq. I should have my own room and there are there are exciting little rumors of wifi in our rooms. Next thing you know they might even give us air-conditioning! Its really a tough life.

...more to follow soon. Keep in touch!