Like Sands in an hourglass...

Sand, sand, sand...

I notice the sand as there's not much else here.

I am in lovely Ali al-Salem, a base in Kuwait. The military moved their main transit point from Doha, Qatar to here a month or so ago.

Not sure why... probably some politcal reason... no biggie.

So, what's it like here? Well, there's the base, and then there's the transients - that's me. We are shepherded into a fenced in facility... barbed wire at top, and guards at gates (though you haveto go a bit to get to the gates). No can leave can we. Not that I'd want to, but... just the observation.

It's a tent city. Rows and rows of bunking tents, about 10 bunks per tent. Lights on 24/7 has people come and go 24/7. And as advertised, the A/C is set between "Meatlocker" and "Cryogenic". Sheets? Nope, but we do have plastic mattress covers. As I told my wife, I don't think I've used a plastic sheet in oh about 30+ years.

Latrines are in trailers. Separate for showers. Minimal water pressure. And with such little water pressure, well... cleanliness is just not up to standards. Ugh.

What to do here? Well there's a first class DFAC (Chow hall). And... um... did I mention the chow hall?

There's an Internet Cafe where AAFES is more than happy to charge us $5/hour. It's the ONLY recreational activity available, so... guess what. There's a line.

Shockingly, the PX here is still being run out of a trailer... so, there's about a 2 hour line to be fleeced.

And... that's it, really.

No phones here yet.

Basically, you wait. And wait... Waiting for your flight so you can proceed onwards. Waits to go home aren't too bad (I'll rack up about 36 hours here, I think), but it can go upwards when you're trying to return to your unit. I've met guys who have been interned here for 11 days so far. And they LOOK like they've gone round the bend. Stir crazy.

Still hot here... At night, it cools down to about what KAF is getting hot as.

I'm already in civvies (benefit of going to Germany for leave is that *I* can change, those going to the states cannot). But, my civvies are geared for Germany weather (high of 60's right now), so I'm a lil' toasty.

Have a flight booked on Qatar Airways. One of he reasons for the civvies is so we don't look threatening to the passengers when we show up en masse in uniform. Not that anyone in this part of the world can't spot a group of American Soldiers from 300 meters away.

And here's a hoot... my flight has to connect... in Doha. Got to love it.

So, hopefully my next post will be from... well, from someplace else.

Take care, all...

I'll try to post on all the folks I've met here...