In the beginning

Fri
After a long and exhausting plane ride which saw stops in Illinois, Newfoundland, Germany and finally Kuwait, I finally made my way to camp buering. If you’ve ever spent a similar time on a jet at 35,000 ft., you realize how discombobulated we all were. Needless to say, my mind had a difficult time calibrating. We departed San Diego bright and early the morning of the 28th. By the time we landed in Newfoundland it was the pitch black of night, yet when we arrived in Germany the sun was rising. By now time was feeling as relative as it is claimed. The four hour flight from Germany to Kuwait found us not in the mid morning, rather the late evening, which turned to night within an hour of our arrival. So in one day of traveling we experienced in our mind’s eye two complete days! (sorry about the explanation points…I realize its like laughing at your own jokes, but I like them!)
The camp is very much different from the boat as you can imagine. Buildings and tents seemingly strewn around, tanks parked in close lines, little g.i. joes wandering around with unloaded rifles; all very different from the close quarters of a well-oiled navy ship. The smart tidiness of a navy ship is replaced by vastness and dirt. That is not the army’s fault, rather Kuwait’s. Kuwait remains the same as last I was here, flat and dusty, with two exceptions, it is mild and has rained the past two days.
Looking around I still cannot understand why people live to die for this wasteland. Imagine fighting for the steaming hot, cracked parking lot next to the closed kmart when you have no shoes and the only reprieve is a section of broken glass to ease the burning of your soles. Perhaps not a perfect similitude, but what a wasteland. The answer ‘oil’ was given to my question, ‘why would anyone live in this place and more, die for it?’. A popular answer in today’s ‘we fight this war for oil’ mentality. Goes to show you how little people read history. Blood has been shed on this land far before suv’s and even before the discovery of the shiny black stuff.
Today was our first real day here. We had nothing to do as we are still ‘acclimating’. Tomorrow will start the beginning of the briefings constituting a long and most likely painful turn over. I’m looking forward to getting in a grove and actually doing our job. I’m especially looking forward to moving out of this large tent where we are living. If you’ve never lived with fifty of your closest friends you have no idea the powerlessness you feel when the big guy across the tent snores at a volume which puts rock concerts to shame. Impressive really. And I must say, it masks my own snoring, so I’m not that upset with the guy.
Before you start imagining a Vietnam style tent with green vinyl and stretched camouflage overtop, let me remind you we are in the middle of the flattest land you can imagine. There is no sense trying to hide. We live in an enormous white tent with concrete floors and air conditioning. Not the height of comfort or hardship. It simply is.
The last is a statement I’ve found myself saying more and more as of late. I’m not sure if it is a sign of giving in or simply an understanding of what can be changed and what cannot. I suppose there is wisdom in the famous lines from that oh so inspirational movie fight club; ‘we have learned to let slide, that which truly does not matter’. So perhaps, ‘it simply is’ is my way of letting things of which I have no control, not get me in a fuss. More on this later, as I think it is an important issue.