Boots on Ground

Camp Virginia, Kuwait

Shhh... I am trying to spot an Ewak.  Clearly I have been transported to the planet Tatooine, where Luke Skywalker hails from.

I'm really in the desert at Camp Virginia, the embark-debark location for troops headed to Afghanistan and Iraq.  We arrived here two days ago, at 4am, after a 30 hour trip which began at McCord Air Force Base in Washington and went via Topeka and Leipzig, former East Germany.  We had beautiful views of Mt Rainier as we left our Ft Lewis home of one month, more meals and movies than I can count, AND many of us got to sit in first class - a first for me.

The plane was a civilian charter plane on North America Airways.  Don't try to find them on Travelocity, it doesn't really exist, at least not for non-military folks.  The military charters these 767s and 747s to transport their troops to various spots throughout the world.  Other than the fact that everyone was carrying an unloaded weapon (with firing pin removed, rendering it unusable), and that we were all in camouflage gear, it was just like a regular flight.

We arrived in Kuwait International in the pitch black with a waxing gibbous moon, dry air, temperature of about 60 degrees, and humidity at 5%.  By the time we unloaded the plane (that was different than the regular airlines - we had a 40 person working party to do that) and made the 45 minute bus ride to Camp Virginia, it was light, and clear that we had arrived at a place 180 degrees out from the wet, mountainous, and mossy Ft Lewis where we had just come from.  Flat as a laser, a dusty layer of talc-like brown powder filled the lower atmosphere, and nary a tree to be seen.  We spotted a few camels but that was about it for life forms.  Lots of Toyota pick-ups with turbined locals.  No Ewaks.

Camp Virginia is an expansive piece of this drab territory filled with quonset huts as far as the eye can see.  It is hemmed in by 6 to 8 foot tall New Jersey barriers (they are either Alaska or Texas barriers - true - but I don't know the difference between the two.  They're big, that's all.)  We have a small slice of Americana here: a Starbucks (I am sitting there now, using the Wifi at 2:42 in the morning - my circadian rhythm is non-existent at this point), a Taco Bell in a hut, a USO in a quonset hut filled with video game stations, TVs, and free phones (15 min limit) from which you can call the states, and of course, a MacDonalds.

We now eat in a DFAC designed to hold 1050 persons.  It's massive, and it has Baskin-Robbins, a sandwich station, the usual salad bar, cafeteria food, a so on.  You could get real fat here.  Plus it has TV on where you can watch the  9pm EDT basketball game at breakfast time.  We are 8 hours ahead of EDT here.

Why are we here?  Well, we are now officially "Boots on the Ground" (BOG) which means that we have to get administratively in-processed to the theater.  Our "ticker" has begun, which means our roughly 6 months in-theater time starts now.  That's big.  Plus we start getting paid the various Hazardous Duty Pay, Family Separation Allowance (FSA), and so on, for being in-theater.  Because I do have a family and do get FSA, my "extra" pay comes to $575 per month, not including the $3.50 daily "incidental" pay per day (I don't really get this one, it's for shaving cream, shampoo and such), and most of all, not including my tax-free-to-a-point status:  I am not taxed on my pay up to the amount the most senior enlisted person in the Navy makes per month.  That comprises most of my pay, so I am essentially tax-free for the next 6 months.  Not bad.

The other reason we are here is to get training in MRAP rollover, which is similar to the HUMVEE rollover training we got in Ft Lewis.  An MRAP is the next generation of HUMVEE - bigger, taller, and more IED resistant.  It looks like it's about to roll over at rest - nearly taller than long.  I will try to include  a photo of one when I actually see one.  Apparently in theater the MRAP is rapidly replacing the HUMVEE.

Once done with admin and MRAP rollover, it's just a matter of time before the Air Force folks in Qatar set us up with transportation to Kandahar and points beyond.  No more first class for us - we fly military air from now on!  Helmets and kevlar flak jackets will be with us at all times on this flight.  And no movies...