Tobiasly’s Blog

Well, we’re back in Kuwait, although not at Camp Doha. We are at Camp Champion, which together with Camp Wolf makes up what’s generally referred to as the APOD (Aerial Port of Debarkation). This is actually where we flew into when we first came over, and where we’ll leave from when we come home (whenever that is). This is supposedly the last mission we’ll have before coming home, although there’s still no word on when that may be.

It’s much hotter here than it was in Jordan. It’s not uncommon to get up to 135 degrees during the day. They aren’t connected in to the power grid yet (I’m not sure why), so everything runs off generators.

The one that runs our A/C keeps overheating during the middle of the day, and we continually have to run out and restart it. Of course, when it gets that hot there’s nothing more refreshing than a nice, cool shower. Too bad we can’t get one of those, because the tanks that hold the water for the showers sits out in the direct sun all day, so the two temperatures of water are “hot” and “hot”.

We’re pretty much doing the same thing over here, chipping in on the base defense operations. The facilities are pretty nice, all in all — it will be a little harder getting to the phones, but email access is pretty good (although it looks like they’re blocking instant messaging).

There are two PX’s here, as well as a bazaar (the “Haji Shop”) that sells souvenirs, clothes, some electronics, Cuban cigars, and pirated DVD’s. I bought “The Matrix Reloaded” for $10, but it was a pretty bad copy (as in, it was obviously someone sitting in a movie theater with a camcorder, and the sound was about a full second off from the video). The movies that are actually available on DVD to begin with are much better, although the selection is pretty small.

We are now very close to our battalion headquarters, which is still at Camp Doha, so we should be getting both letter and package mail every day. Although there really isn’t much that I’m needing these days, except for specific stuff that I’ve asked for from some. But keep those emails and letters coming!

Oh yeah, out of curiosity I looked up haji on dictionary.com.. its definition is actually “One who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca”. I knew that Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives, and that this trip is called “haj”, but never made the connection. I’m not sure if it’s also a first name as well, as I first thought.

Well, I guess that’s about it for now. Hope everyone is doing fine and that I see you all before too much longer!