Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)

Mercedes Benz Car Bomb on the way to the DFAC

This car was seized, disabled and used as a display model of what you can see in this region. Terrorists and insurgents are becoming clever at hiding their explosives. In Kuwait, we have to keep an eye out for IEDs, crazy drivers, goats, camels and pedestrians. As you can see, driving can be very tiresome and after a long drive, it feels like a really, really long day at work. We get hazardous duty pay for a reason, because the potential for danger is always there. I've even experienced a mad driver drive in front of me and slam on their brakes to piss me off. Of course, I had to dodge him.

I noticed after my last morale call to Soco, that I've been complaining a lot and I haven't been talking about what's really important about life. Family life. Well, Soco is doing fine and the baby is kicking. I'm getting really excited and I can't wait to get back. I'm having trouble thinking of baby names. I'm so picky, because it will be a name I'll be saying for the rest of my life. But I have to be careful, because I don't want to pick a name that will invite bullying like my sister's old name before she changed it to Phoebe. Got any cool names? Drop me a line!

Missing Home

Burger King in the middle of nowhere, near Iraq

Same thing over and over again. Camp Arifjan is boring. Go to work, eat, sleep, go to work. Nothing new. Only more work. Work... work work and more work. Hit the gym, sleep, shower in cold water, more work.

The Armed Forces Network (AFN) television shows are pretty dull and they play the same thing over and over. I think I have already watched, "Drumline" and "Edward Sizzerhands" like 4 or 5 times already. The music videos are pretty repeaticious also and I'm getting sick of watching Madonna dancing and a singing Frog.

The food place is called the "DFAC", which is pronounced, D-FAC. Their meals are starting to taste the same and I'm getting tired of omlets and sausage for breakfast. They have no soy milk so I can't eat cereal as I would like to change up my diet a little. During the day, I'm getting used to eating "Chicken and Gravy" and some days, I mix it up with "Ham and Gravy". Wednesday nights, they have dry, T-bone steak and Crablegs. I can't complain about that, but after having it 15 times in two months, it gets old. The salad dressing is disagreeable with my digestive system and the fruits don't change. Last night, I had a change and actually enjoyed an unusual meal selection, "Liver". It was really good. Isn't it sad that liver has become the most desirable thing on the menu?

Secret Santa Gift Exchange

Today, we had fun doing a gift exchange with a Secret Santa. I had a lot of fun with it. For my boss, I wrapped a great big, giant box. It was the biggest gift on the table and for the party, we all opened our gifts in front of the crowd. Well, I had the idea to get my boss a 20 pack of bottled H2O! So when my boss lifted the box, he was immediately wondering how the heck he was going to carry this huge gift home! Hehe! When he opened the box, his reaction was kinda shocking. Water! Hahahaha! On the bottom, there was another box. And inside that box was another wrapped present. And inside of it was a wrapped present and inside of that was a Leatherman tool! He was so happy and everybody clapped. Hehehe!

Another Hard Day

Forklift

It was another hard day at work. Mondays for us kicks off with head cleanup. (Restroom cleaning). I joked and made a rule that the last one who shows up has to scrub the toilets. I was kinda tired of people showing up late for cleanup. Somehow, my freak'in rule backfired on me since I was the last one to show up at 0625. So I had to pull the most disgusting duty of all and I had to scrub the toilets with a crappy scratchy thingy. The stench almost made me want to puke. And of course, I put on purple gloves and scrapped the brick hard crap that was stuck to the sides of the toilet. It was very hard, smelly old crap. Since the patients that use them are usually crippled some way, shape or form, they refuse to flush. It is so nasty.

I also had to go to a meeting with some big wigs. The XO had asked me some technical questions about defibrillators and our database program. I told them how important our mission was to have BIOFACS and they all approved and made it one of the top 10 list of things to purchase. I was proud of myself.

Guns and Coffee

Starbucks at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

Nothing is better than the smell of coffee in the morning. At Camp Arifjan, we are very lucky to have a Starbucks on base. The outside of it looks like a field desert trailer, but on the inside, it is a whole different story. It is like, you've been teleported back to the states. I was one of the first ones to purchase a souveneur Starbucks coffee mug that day and when I finished my six dollar iced mocha, they were all sold out of Kuwaiti mugs. Lucky me! Anyways, is there anywhere else in the world where you can carry large semi-automatic weapons and sip coffee in a relaxing atmosphere at the same time?

Six dollar Mocha better taste good!

Happy Holidays from USMHK

BIOMED PHOTO US Military Hospital Kuwait 2005

As a Navy Tradition, Biomed repairmen from all over the U.S. Navy take their shop photo to share with the world. This year, I am in Kuwait and this is our shop. We represent the commands from Naval Hospital Lemoore, CA, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan, and Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego.

Ever since we lost one guy, we have been working our tails off. 7, 12 hour days. No time off. That may seem excessive, but we have to do what we have to do. It is really hard to stay focused when we work so much, but we do what we can. I don't want to hear anyone else bitching about their work schedule. Because I work 84 hours a week, cellphone/pager on-call 24 hours a day. I also pull 24 hour duty once a month where I have to stay awake for 24 hours. Beat that.

Red Cross Message and Islamic Culture

Off roading in Kuwait
We had a member of the BMET team get a red cross message. If you known what that means, it means a free ticket home. Unfortunately, that is not the way anyone would like to go home because that also means that there was a death of a close relative. One less person for us, but we can handle it.

I went to a cultural relations class yesterday. I learned a lot about the middle eastern world and their culture. It is a lot different from our culture. Here, it is okay for guys to hold hands and kiss each other. Ick, to us that is super gay. It is also okay to marry more than one wife, but in the Islam religion, if you have sex with one, you much have sex with both (not at the same time) and also they must have exactly the same thing. If you buy one a Mercades the other must have the same car. Fair and equal treatment for both with can be very expensive which most people don't marry more than one person. It would be extremely difficult to please both wives at the same time I was told by one Islamic person. People from other countries cannot purchase land or a house here. They must rent, no matter how much money you got. That is the law. To do business here, you must partner with a natural born Kuwaiti. You can't just be born here to be a Kuwaiti, the family must have lived in Kuwait for generations. I am told that divorce is allowed, however the woman must wait 4 or 5 months to remarry just in case she was pregnant to eliminate any doubt who the baby's family name must go to. Islamic women in Kuwait have the freedom to wear whatever they want, some will wear clothing that covers their whole body but eyes and hands and some will wear western style clothing. To cover up more of the body is to be more conservative. It is very interesting and I am always learning more and more about this place. I just know what there is proof that women here, drive worse than men! Because most of their face is covered!

Unni from Philips Medical troubleshooting the CT Scanner

Winter wonderland in Kuwait

After the rain

I have been told that it rains here during this time. But so far, I've only seen it rain a few times since I've been here. Precipitation is supposed to be about an inch to two inches per year. Not much. In the morning, it is usually really cold and as the sun comes up, it gets warmer and warmer. Like today, the high was 80 degrees. As the sun sets, it cools down. Lately, when it cools down, the cold air brings a thick fog with it. Really spooky. It gives me the chills as if the ghosts of the dead Iraqi solders have come back to haunt us.

To kill off my boredom, I am trying to join every committee and club there is to offer. My boss signed me up for the choir. I was just joking when he asked me if I wanted to sing. I said, "If you sing, I'll sing." The next day, he signed me up.

Damn....

So I found myself today practicing with a group of people singing, "Jingle Bell Rock." We actually sounded good.

BMET Work in Kuwait

Jcid still learning to drive

It has been a busy week. We stay busy by doing preventative maintenance at all the outlying military clinics in Kuwait. It consists of doing a LOT of driving. Several places are difficult to get to because of hidden roads covered in sand. Maps and road signs are not a reliable source for directions so we have to go by memory, landmarks and making a lot of U-turns.

It is common to see shopping malls next to Mosques

Iraq

Road to Baghdad, Talilil, and Basra

Bombed Out Building

Fire!