War Stories

What it looks like if you open your eyes during a sandstorm

It doesn't matter if you are wearing a uniform, a badge, speak a foreign language, or if your black, asian or caucasian, we are all the same. People generally like the same type of things and eat various, but edible food and it all comes down to the most important thing ingestible item: water. In the desert, if you don't drink water, you will die. In the jungles of south-east asia, if you don't drink water, you will die. Death is a irrefutable fact of life. But, what makes cultures different here is the value of life. In America, life is precious, every single person counts for something. Although over here in Kuwait, life is "considered" precious, but it doesn't seem to be.

I have heard in the news that a dead body was lying on the side of the road and visible for several days before authorities decided to clean it up. Kuwaitis don't really care about third-country nationals (TCN's). They are immigrants from other countries seeking work, sort of similar to Mexicans crossing the American border to seek a better life(sorry for the analogy, but it's true). When I leave the confines of the base, most of the population I see are Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankian, or Philipino. If they die, nobody seems to care. There is a lot of poverty here. I notice that there is a lot of sheep herders and camel herders. But I have also seen some clean places in Kuwait City which resemble what San Diego looks like.

Camel hiding behind sign
It is interesting to see wild camels and seeing baby camels running alongside their mother. There's no other place in the world where I would see this type of stuff.

War Stories
Some of the people that I am working with have been here more than once. And they are more than happy to share their war stories with me. The soil I'm standing on was once occupied by the Iraqi army in the early 90s until the U.S. Military pushed them all out. Land cruising missiles used to attack random targets in Kuwait and soldiers were peeing their pants while stationed here about 2 years ago, an senior hospital corpsman recalls. Many say, "I've been to Iraq." "There are explosions and gunfire still being heard across the border." "I've seen the statue of Saddam being taken down." "If I had invested in Kuwaiti Dinars, I'd be rich." All kinds of stories. Very interesting stories, I wish I can write them all and publish, but thankfully, they aren't my stories to tell. Although I haven't seen the face of war, I still hear the thundering explosions here and there.

Running Out of Time

Man made pond at a mall in Kuwait City

With my incredibly long working hours, I rarely have enough time to myself. I would like to watch movies, but I'm too absorbed in my work. Being a perfectionist has it's ups and downs. I'm never satisified because my quality of work has to be the best. My repair work requires no rework because I find permanent solutions to broken equipment. My boss says it is because I'm a Virgo.

Sports:
Me and my boss have strong differences in opinion when it comes to sports. I don't play it or watch it because I think it is a complete waste of time and effort. He tries to convince me that it is good for your body and spirit. I tell him that "men who like to watch sweaty men playing with balls IS GAY". He stares back at me without answer. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being anti-social. I'm just a deep thinker and I like to come up with creative ideas and new inventions.



Today, I had a large serving of lobster, two servings of steak and Baskin Robbins ice cream. I have been told that the Kuwaiti government pays for our food. I'm not sure if it is rumor, but it makes sense that we get to eat a lot without meal cards or having it deducted from our paychecks. I can just imagine how many millions of dollars they spend a day to feed us. Especially since all the food here is imported from all over the world. Thanks for all food, Kuwait!

Military Downsizing
The military is still downsizing. Although the higher-ups try to rename downsizing to "right sizing".... but we aren't stupid. Who do they think we are? The Navy is moving towards becoming a more deployable force. I'm not too sure how they would accomplish this since a good portion of the Navy is already deployed. So does that mean, no family life what-so-ever? I imagine new UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) laws that enforce: Falling in Love is Not Allowed. The military needs to realize how precious shore duty stations are. They allow us to purchase homes and boost local economies while providing training and logistical support for the war fighters. This is solely my opinion. Don't take away the military member's family life and if it must be disrupted, at the very least, make it tolerable and provide compensation time and money.

OPSEC a Question?

So what is OPSEC? Many people are confused when it comes to this. Our Commanding Officer clearly tells us not to reveal troop movements, numbers and anything harmful to the U.S. and Allies of the United States.

All photos posted are unclassified and outdated. Especially any photographs taken from the air. I actually download most of these from the military's share drive! I can only talk about what has happened in the past.

Does this webpage need to be cleared with the Public Affairs Officer?
No. As written in the "Stars and Stripes", the U.S. Army allows deployed troops to upkeep bloggers. It is actually encouraged as it may boost morale by being an inexpensive means of keeping in touch with family (and the world!). But if you feel that anything here violates operational security, please e-mail me at the link on this page and I will promptly remove it as I check my e-mail constantly.

I work with the Public Affairs Officer as my writing is also published in "The Desert Anchor".


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Okay, now I got that out of the way, I can talk about life again.

Lately, I've been reading a book called "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. It is really quite interesting. There are a lot of twists and turns as a suspense novel should be.

Movies I watched: The War of the Worlds and The Day after Tomorrow.
Today was President's Day, so I actually had some time to decompress and not think about work. The War of the Worlds was very good. If you have seen it before, you would know that that little girl in that movie was really annoying and all I wanted to do is smack her. Some of the people who watched the movie didn't get the ending. Simple minded people would think that Tom Cruise caused the aliens to go away.... Think about the ending.

Soco will be moving out of the apartment soon. The government is going to make us pay to move out which is going to cost us a couple thousand dollars. Ick. I know that the government is being stingy with their funding. Ouch. Oh well, the benefits outweigh the costs since we will no longer have to pay to do laundry and we will have an American sized kitchen!

Science News: I was reading the other day about anti-matter. If we can harness the energy of anti-matter, it is actually 1000 times more potent than nuclear fusion. Wow. That would mean that something the size of a grain of rice can power the entire country of Japan. Or travel to the planet Mars with 6 grams of matter!

Lunch with the Admiral: Never happened. I was assigned to have lunch with him two days ago and for some reason, it never materialized. My trust in my chain of command has decreased.... thanks a lot.

-=-=-=-=-=-
I know that in the military, people are awarded for various reasons. I have decided to take it upon myself to establish 3 new ribbons:

1. "Getting Credit for Somebody Else's Hard Work" Ribbon
2. "I Did My Job" Ribbon
3. "Outstanding Usage of Tag-a-log While in Uniform" Ribbon

If you are in the military, you probably know what I'm talking about. The suck-ups, the lazy, and the Tag-A-Log speakers.
-=-=-=-=-=-

Sorry, no pictures today. I'm using one of the MWR computers.

Never Ending Job

Army and Navy Medical Team working together at Camp Victory, Kuwait

The job that I do, Biomedical Engineer is a never ending job. There is never a time where I can just spend time catching up on things because there is always work to do. 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. That schedule is starting to wear me out and Jcid, my co-worker, is showing serious signs of burn-out. Even though our leadership has called for giving us 1 1/2 days off a week, we take the initiative to keep working and answer troublecalls on our days off. Unfortunately for us, every piece of medical equipment is detrimental to the mission. My hobby of fixing things has become my job and now I take little pleasure in fixing stuff. Funny, I thought that people should aim to work at what they take pleasure of doing. Hmm... food for thought.

Today, I checked the shelves at the PX and to my surprise, the shelf was full of action packed games! SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals, Grand Theft Auto Libery City, Lord of the Rings: Tactics, and the ever-so-popular, Need for Speed. SWEET. I'm sure that they will all be gone by the close of business.

Line of Medievac Humvees

Morale Calls Home
I do my best to call home once a day. It is quite challenging because Japan is six hours ahead of us and while Soco is home, I am working. Although not authorized to make personal calls during working hours, I put my wife first and I stop everything I do and make a phone call near the end of closing time. And after that, I catch up on more work that has piled up since then. I can't wait to go back home!

Morale is improving as our tour is coming to a close. Seabees have already switched out with their new crew and I'll be awaiting for my replacement, Advanced BMET from Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Prado being refueled directly from the truck

If you ever come to Kuwait, you may be lucky to drive a Prado. The government leases these wonderful 4-wheel drive SUVs and they are sooth off-road! My fastest muddy desert off-road speed to date: 65 kph. A strange phenomenon is that it has two fuel tanks. I found out about this when the fuel tank went from 3/4 tank to full while I was driving on the freeway. Everybody falls in love with this vehicle. As Chief Haggad calls them, "Prado Affectionados".

No Alcohol, No Naked Photos Allowed

Helo Landing

General Order #1: No alcohol or naked photos what-so-ever.

It is not just a rule on this base, it is the rule for the entire country.

How do soldiers, airmen and sailors cope with this?
Answer: Near beer

Monopoly:
The military exchange is a monopoly out here! I can't believe that I have to pay so much for the things I want! They falsely advertise, "We go where you go, and our prices stay the same."

Bullshit! Digital cameras, laptops, televisions, computers, memory, batteries, video games, music CDs, DVDs, MP3 players, DVD players are all outrageously priced. The prices stay the same for toothpaste, bubble gum and toilet paper, but not the "good stuff" that keep us sane.

Another thing I noticed is that they stock the stupidest crap. They have very little idea what the target customer really wants. There are 40 copies of "Bad News Bears" PSP movie just sitting on the shelf collecting dust for over 2 months! There could be some cool video game there in it's place, but no... they have to sell out of it before they restock with something fresh. Why aren't they stocking war games? Or race car games? Everybody loves playing "SOCOM: US Navy Seals", instead they stock stupid shit like, 30 copies of an old crappy movie called "Death Race 2000" or 30 copies of "Robocop" or games designed for six year old kids. C'mon people! We're in a warzone! There's no kids here. You're killing me! If you're going to stock up on stupid miscellaneous crap, get only 5 copies, not 30. Jeez.

Jokes:
To maximize our use of time out here, we try to entertain ourselves with pranks and jokes. My latest prank is setting up wooden mouse traps in the refrigerator. To watch someone reach in and see all those mouse traps! Hahaha! What is even funnier is when someone actually reaches in for something and set them off! OOOUCHHH!!!

Another prank that has been going around is the "FN + Num lock" key. My boss actually bought a new keyboard because someone had changed his keyboard configuration! Hehehe

Most Influential Language in the World

Rack Life

Out of boredom, I was researching what was the most influential language in the world. It is difficult to get up-to-date information since most of it was dated back in 1997 (9 years ago). It appears that Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, and English is the second. But English is spoken in more countries and is the business language of the world. With billions of citizens within it's own country of China, Mandaran defaults as the most spoken language. There are very few Mandaran speakers in the U.S. and scattered in other countries, and it is not very easy to learn. I was watching how amazing it was to see Indian MTV and surprisingly everyone spoke English! It is much easier to conduct business in Kuwait since everyone here can speak English or some form of English. I spoke to Mr. Deepak, a contractor, and he told me that everyone in India is taught English at a very young age. That is very interesting. Wouldn't it be great if the whole world spoke one language? That would end so much confusion, miscommunication, and possibly, wars.
I already know that in many countries, English is printed along with Arabic in middle eastern countries and in Japan.

Motivational Sign

Kuwait City

Let's get a large-bore IV going!

"Don't let your dingle-dangle dangle in the dirt,
Pick it up, wipe it off, stick it in your shirt!

Don't let your dingle-dangle dangle in the sand,
Pick it up, wipe it off, put it in your hand!"
-Navy Cadence

Dingle-dangle = dogtags

United States, the most powerful force in the Universe

US Military Hospital Kuwait Entrance

The United States, I have learned, has infinite money. It is strange, but true fact that it is the wealthiest, bankrupt country in the world. Yet, we are still on top of the world and luckily, other nations love to trade with us. Our only downfall is our reliance on foreign fossil fuels. By the year 2015, electric cars will take over. Hydrogen power is the future.

Food Court

Me and J were having recent discussions and debating about how this war is being fought. I'm thinking that we are doing okay, but it can get better. J jokingly said that, "Genocide is the key to success in warfare. If you kill everybody, there can be no retailiation and the victorious will be happy forever." Is it? It is impossible to conduct such a feat in this war because insurgents blend in with the local population. So no, genocide wouldn't work. The main strategy is: rebuild Iraq's and Afghanistan's economy so they can prosper and influence surrounding Islamic nations by their success. Now, Iran wants to screw everything up by threatening nukes. They're so dumb. Why can't everybody be happy and peaceful? America did them a favor by removing a crazy dictator armed with chemical and biological weapons away from their border. No appreciation what-so-ever.

Helo Ops

Life of the Typical Deployed Military Member

Fish Market

The weather has gotten wetter and warmer over the past few days. And it shows, now that I go to work every morning and have to put up with the stench of my co-workers. I think that fat people stink pretty bad. I turn around and yell at my partner, "GO TAKE A SHOWER DAMN IT!" "Shut up, I already did." he yells back. We unsheath our knives and wrenches and pretend to fight each other.

It is pretty much the same thing at the barracks. Everybody stinks and the nasty fart games that guys play are pretty disgusting. We are packed in our living quarters like sardines. And the farting never stop with people saying, "Oh! That one was great, I just might have to change my underwear." I really hate it that everyone seems to think that it is okay to stay awake late at night, talk in their normal tones of voices while some people are trying to sleep. It drives me nuts. I wish I could just cut their tongue out, but that would be too messy. I'm missing the life in my cozy apartment in Japan.

I swear that I'm getting dumber and dumber as I spend more time around the folks around here. People are starting to reflect on their life back home, talking about how they would have sex with ugly chicks or their favorite private places to masterbate. I'm not going to go into detail but you can figure out the rest. I try to ignore all the racist jokes and remarks which occur quite frequently under a controlled environment. I'm also having dreams of shooting bad guys with my 9mm. I try to keep my sanity by reading two month old Time magazines and continuous cramming for the advancement exam. Something that Soco has got me motivated to do. I remind myself that I'll be home shortly and I look forward to eating steak and crablegs a few more times.

I have gotten a package from my sister. It was pretty neat. Bowl of Vietnamese PHO, snacks, a toy and a HUGE box of breath mints. How thoughtful, I pass out the breath-ments every morning for now on. It's enough to last a month! Cool, thanks!

Another typical day in the Kuwaiti Desert. 07 FEB 06
New Movies

Adventures in Kuwait City

Indian Food

At the briefing, I was told not to cross the street or go past the fish market. After finding the mall so boring, I figured... why not? I crossed the street and left the comfort of armed security. I was on my own.

Outside the mall, it was really trashy. The buildings look like they were weakly built and that they could fall apart. The sidewalks had huge potholes and the smell of exhaust was overwhelming. I got stared at a lot because I was probably the wierdest person they have ever seen. I dressed differently and I looked like I had a lot of money on me. That was my first mistake as I walked into the street side bazaar. There are a lot of Indian, Sri Lankans, Pakistanians, and Philipinos. A lot, by the way they were dressed, were Muslem. The women all wore burkas of some kind. Some only covered their body and hair, while others only have holes for their eyes. The buildings were dark and spooky and everyone wanted to lure me in and have me purchase something.

Something I learned in Cultural Awareness class, is that you should never approach a woman or stare at them. You might get stabbed. So I cautiously looked around and didn't stay in one place for too long. Walking around by myself in this foreign land was very nerve racking. I wanted to run back, but I kept my cool and attempted to blend in by walking into a store. Watches caught a glimpse of my eye and somehow I was convinced to buy something. Hmmm.... Something that I couldn't get anywhere else. Just for my wife.

Out of all of the oddities here, I think the perfect Valentines gift was all over the place. But since, Soco already knows what I got her, I'm going to go ahead and mention what I got.

Guess.

Well, you're wrong. It is not a robot! They don't sell those kind of things here! The two things that sell best here is gold, rugs and purfume. Now, take your guess.

Inside Mall

Third Country National Territory

Third Country Nationals, otherwise known as TCNs, is anyone who is not a Kuwaiti citizen. To be a Kuwaiti citizen, you must be married to a Kuwaiti or be the child of a Kuwaiti. It is very possible that a Kuwaiti will marry a Philipina and her child will be a Kuwaiti. Interesting isn't it?

ATM Machine in a Truck

Inevitible Laws of Success in today's United States Navy.
1. The Philippines is the center of the Universe.
2. Everything evolves around the Philippines.
3. Philippinos know everything. They have all the answers which make them, Subject Matter Experts.
4. If you can't understand rules number 2 and 3, refer back to rule number 1.
5. English is going to be phased out with Tag-a-log. The sooner you learn this language, the faster you will be promoted.
6. If you do not like adobo, panset or lumpia, you must at the very least, like steamed rice. If you don't, you won't succeed.