Day 86; A Starbucks Like No Other

Tuesday, February 8th


I received the photo of Starbucks in Kuwait from my soldier today.  Here is his email:

The fabled starbucks in Kuwait.  Notice the Hesco barriers protecting it from mortar shrapnel.  Ironically, this is the only building I've seen on base that is individually protected by Hesco barriers. 

FYI:  I'll be in Taji about 24 hours from now.  I'll be leaving on an Air Force C-130 plane to get to Taji, in full gear, weapon, ammo and all.  Should be like a 2 hour flight.  I'll try to find some internet asap once I get there.

More to come!  Love you.


I read this email from my cell phone.  The photo of Starbucks was small, but I could see the doorway and the Hesco barriers.  Upon closer inspection, it appeared that there was a soldier patrolling in front of Starbucks with his weapon. 

So I replied to my son's email and said:

Thanks for the Starbucks photo.  Is that soldier, with the gun, patrolling?  What the heck?


His reply:

haha. 
Zoom in on the guy and tell me if you think he is patrolling. 
Hint:  I wasn't the one holding the camera.


So I zoom in on the photo...  and...  HUH?  

That's my son, holding a weapon in one hand and sipping a Starbucks coffee in the other!  Oy.

Day 79; Welcome to the Sandbox

Tuesday, February 1st

I received an email from my soldier tonight.  He was safely in Kuwait and had actually found an Internet café – something that surprises me, as I was not expecting to hear from him at all for the next 1 to 2 weeks. 

Here is his email:

Hi all,

I got to Kuwait about 10 hours ago.  Got a welcome brief, ate midnight chow (The Army invented the "Fourthmeal" before Taco Bell did), went to sleep, took a quick shower (only 15gal allowed!), ate breakfast, and found this internet cafe. 

I'll be here for a couple weeks before I move into Iraq... I haven't figured out where everything is yet, but I found the two most important things:  food and internet!  I am guessing I'll have brief access to the internet once every day or two... this internet cafe only has about 20 computers and there are a couple thousand people here... I'm guessing that not everyone knows it exists yet.

The mythical Starbucks that I heard about is definitely here!  Looks just like a normal Starbucks, except it has Hesco barriers around it (big 6 foot tall baskets full of gravel to protect against shrapnel from mortar attacks).  There is also a big gym which I haven't checked out yet, a PX general store, a few fast-food joints, and some other places typically found on a military base.

All of the workers here are some sort of Middle Eastern and Asian type... I heard most of them have been brought here from Bangladesh and live near the base, but that didn't come from anyone official.  The front-liners know English enough so that you can tell them what you want on your omelet. 

It's raining here...weird.  If you want to look at the weather or where I am on Google Maps, you can probably find it if you search for Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

That's all I've got for now.  Drink an extra beer for me the next chance you get... I'll have to wait a while... :/

Hooah!

Rich

I looked up "Camp Buehring" on Google Maps and it took me to a place on the map in Kuwait named “Camp Udairi.”  It was a square area with an airstrip, surrounded by a lot of sand.  Nothing for miles around it!  Anyway, I was a bit confused since the camp names were different, so I looked up “Camp Buehring” on the web. 

This explanation is from Wikipedia:

Camp Buehring is a staging post for US troops in the northwestern region of Kuwait.  The base is used for military troops heading north into Iraq as well as the primary location for the Middle Eastern Theater Reserve.  The areas surrounding Camp Buehring, known as the Udairi Range Complex, are largely uninhabited, but for a few nomadic Bedouin tribes raising camels, goats, and sheep.

Camp Buehring was named after Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Buehring who was killed in Baghdad on October 26th, 2003.  Buehring was one of the highest ranking U.S. casualties of the Iraq War.  Camp Buehring had formerly been called Camp Udairi.

Ahhh.  They are one and the same.  Also labeled on the Google Map of Camp Buehring was indeed the Starbucks my soldier mentioned. 

Then I looked up "Hesco barriers" and found this photo on the Internet:

Hesco bastions stacked two high around portable toilets in Iraq

 

Interesting.  Here's a little information on Hesco barriers:

The HESCO bastion is both a modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification developed in the late 1980s. It is made of a collapsible wire mesh container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent dike or barrier against blast or small-arms. It is used on nearly every United States Military base in Iraq as well as on NATO bases in Afghanistan.  

Assembling the HESCO bastion entails unfolding it and (if available) using a front end loader to fill it with sand, dirt or gravel. The placement of the barrier is generally very similar to the placement of a sandbag barrier or earth berm except that room must generally be allowed for the equipment used to fill the barrier. The main advantage of HESCO barriers, strongly contributing to their popularity with troops and flood fighters, is the quick and easy setup. Previously, people had to fill sandbags, a slow undertaking, with one worker filling about 20 sandbags per hour. Workers using HESCO barriers and a front end loader can do ten times the work of those using sandbags.

I am hoping to get a photo from my soldier of the actual Starbucks in Camp Buehring.  Stay tuned.

Day 78; Holding My Breath

Monday, January 31st

Holding on and waiting to exhale... Just lying here in bed, staring at the phone, and willing it to ring...

Ok, almost midnight and I just received an email.  It will suffice:   

"At the airport in [classified location].  Gonna be leaving here soon for [classified location].  Shitty Internet, but enough to get a message across.  Love you."  

Thank you God.

:')

Day 73; Passing the Time

Wednesday, January 26th

Waiting, waiting, waiting. 

We are still here in beautiful Kona, Hawaii.  It's so difficult to truly enjoy my time here.  Can anyone out there understand that?  Each time I am alone, whether it be lying in my bed, sitting on the lanai, even today when I was riding my bike! I think about my son and pray to God for his safety.  Tears streamed down my face today as I rode toward home, occasionally taking my hand off the grip just to wipe my face. 

Sheesh, I am truly pathetic sometimes. 

Soon, my soldier will depart, but I as I mentioned before, I cannot disclose the date.  I talk to him almost daily, but the dark cloud still remains over my head. 

C Company waits to depart as well.  I often think they are, like me, crossing each day off the calendar as it comes, dreading the day they leave. 

Silly me. 

Here are some photos my soldier sent me, as they pass the time until departure.

That's my son in the middle.  You guess it, he's going down...

Just look at the expressions on their faces as they dump their officer into the mud.  Do these guys look depressed and low-spirited?  Obviously not.  My son tells me they are anxious to go and do their jobs.

God, I love soldiers.  They are America's finest men and women, don't you agree?



Day 60; Departure Date

I asked a question, and I got an answer.  My soldier has been given a definitive date for his departure to Kuwait.  They will spend a couple weeks there, then onward to Iraq. 

Although I cannot publicize the departure date on this blog due to confidentiality and safety, a dark cloud looms over the date on my wall calendar.  

Day 53; What Is It You Really Want To Do?

I received an email from a good friend of mine today.  Her son is attending a university and is involved in ROTC. 

I told her of my son's upcoming deployment to Iraq and asked her if she was feeling any apprehension about her son's decision to serve in the Army.  Here is her response:

Are you kidding???  We've talked about this, cried together, talked more about this, and cried more... My son constantly reminds me..."this is my life Mom--not yours!"

 

"But what is it you really want to do?" I asked him.  He responds..."blow up shit!" 

 

Isn't that lovely!?  My sweet little boy.

 

He is all about being the best he can be in life... He spent last summer qualifying in the Army's Special Forces Underwater Dive Team.  Currently, he's an EMT (certainly not for the money, but for the excitement) and says that saving lives is what makes him feel like he is really doing something. 

 

Bob has told him... you CANNOT be a medic in the military cuz they are unarmed!!!  That's why he is pursuing the dive training...and hopefully that will keep him out of Iraq and Afganistan???  This is scary shit!

 

I don't have the heart to tell my friend that I have heard diving operations are just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than going to Iraq or Afghanistan... 

 

God bless her son.  My heart fills with pride to know that our sons have made such an important decision to serve our country.

 

 

Day 50; Daydreaming

A boy and his dog. 

A friend sent me this photo on the day my soldier was leaving for Fort Hood.  He had stopped by with our dog, Tank, to say goodbye to their family. 

I like to dream when I see this photo.  I close my eyes and imagine the day when I will take another picture just like it when my son returns home, and boy and dog will be reunited. 

Or rather, man and dog.