So the first week has given new meaning to the phrase Hurry Up and Wait. Troops are arriving and training is underway. All in all, I give the training camp here in Kuwait a thumbs up so far. They have a lot of soldiers to deal with here and they’re only here for a few weeks before heading north. The USO is cool. They have a small studio set up so you can read stories to your kids on video camera and then send them the DVD and the book. It’s really great.
Otherwise, the drama continues as people continue to be stressed out by the things going on here. I wonder what’s going to happen when we go north. I also wonder how I’m going to handle things and my biggest worry is that I’ll do something stupid to get someone else hurt. I try very hard not to pull rank and I really listen when people with experience over here talk, especially people who’ve had combat experience.
I’ve already had one lesson learned: always be ready. People kind of snickered when the CSM said to make sure you’re ready for a fight when you ride off base. I had my first opportunity to go off base here in Kuwait yesterday and the trip was enlightening.
I’ll go in to more detail some other time, but let’s just say I didn’t sleep the entire trip. It was too interesting and I didn’t want to miss anything.
Culture shock Part 1 coming next.
Later!
Jess
