"Thank you, come again!"

Most people join the Army to get a leg up in life. They want to get out of their crappy home town and avoid working at the local 711. In my case, I join the Army and they make me work at the local 711. Below are photos off my new work location. We call it the Grab-N-Go. It is a small trailer stocked full of snack foods and cold drinks. It just opened shortly before we arrived, and there are many improvements that need to be made. I have spent my last few shifts staying very busy.





The Grab-N-Go is open 24hrs and I am currently scheduled to work third shift. Luckily the place was a mess when we first arrived, so I am keeping busy. I spend the night organizing, cleaning, and stocking the fridges with Gatorade, sodas, and juices. I enjoy the strange tedium of arranging the soda label with the Arabic facing in and the English labels facing out. Some might think that it is a crappy job, but it's not all bad. It's surprisingly rewarding to see the smile on a tiered soldier's face when he walks in at 2am and discovers we have his favorite kind of cereal. Another hidden benefit is that I can listen to music, read, play cards, or even watch a movie during my shift. As long as the shelves are stocked and the trash is empty no one bothers me.




The Gab-N-Go sits right on an air strip. I hear the choppers and cargo plains fly in and out all night. The sound is familiar and slightly comforting. It is as close to the sounds of home as I can get right now. The photo below is what I see almost every night from the door of the shop. The birds will occasionally take off from those locations. I never get tiered of watching them fly.

A Close on Kuwait

Written Saturday May 2 at 3:30pm

My time here in Kuwait has been brief and mostly uneventful. As you can see from my photo timeline not much has happened from the time we got on the plane until now. I spend a lot of time waiting in lines. J My short field experience turned out to be more fun than I had expected. We did some live fire training that gave me a sizable bruise on my right arm. We also conducted convoy operations. Our instructors were knowledgeable as well as fun.

One of the biggest events that have taken place here happened last night. Two camels were brought to the post for MWR camel rides. People were talking about it for days. Soldiers were lined up, circled around, and cameras were flashing. By the time I made it to the site they had cut off the line for rides. It was also getting dark, so the picture quality isn’t the best. It looks like it is snowing, but the wind started to pick up and sand was flying everywhere. That made it even more difficult to get a good photo.

In the photo where my eyes are closed the camel was getting cranky. He was grunting and shaking his head all over the place. I liked him the best. He seemed like a real a-hole. J One of our favorite photos is the two headed camel. I almost convinced a few people it was real. I am sure I will see more camels in Iraq. Hopefully I will get to ride one next time.

In the next couple of weeks I hope to bring you blog entries about Chuck Norris, Porta Potties, and the local vendors/shops that are on post. Stay tuned!!!

Kuwait Picture Timeline

I haven't had much time to get online in Kuwait. I will be writing a summary of the events that have taken place over the last week and a half. Until then I hope you will enjoy a short story told using a few photos I have taken.


Packing is not a one person job.
Pretty big plane, eh?

I love free books and cookies!"
Tight sleeping quarters.
Tank convoy passing our tents.
Charlie's Angels? They've got nothing on us!
Live fire range.
Long hot day of training.