Desert marksmanship

My dedicated and avid readers probably noticed that I skipped a week, my e-mail, Facebook and Twitter just blew up with questions on my whereabouts and health, then the events in Boston, Texas and DC took the spotlight away.  I was just busy, my normal quiet and brunch-based Sunday was a long workday spent preparing for an M-4 rifle qualification gunshoot the next day.  

We received the newest wave of Customs sailors on the 11^th and have spent a lot of time since helping them get acclimated, distributing them among the various Customs companies and making sure they have what they need.  The group going to Afghanistan needed to get qualified on the M-4 rifle, so we had to set that up prior to their departure date.  I am no expert (well, actually I am an expert shot…) but I volunteered to help run the gun line and ensure everyone stayed safe.  Even though you could probably plunk down and shoot a rifle just about anywhere in Kuwait and harm nothing more than the trash blowing around, the major US range is located almost 3 hours away, up by the Iraqi border.  We traveled up to the Ali al Salem airbase the night before (Sunday) as it is much closer to the range and meant that we would not be completely exhausted before we even started shooting.  That was nice as a fair number of sailors that went through Ft Dix with me are still there, so we had some time to catch up and I got ice cream with strawberries and maraschino cherries on it.  The cherries are unique to Ali, so my Sunday wasn’t completely wasted.  On the down side we stayed in tent city, which means sleeping in a large open tent with any number of military people just passing through.  I was in an officer & Chief tent, which normally has its perks but I have come to discover that it also means these people are likely older, and older people are more apt to snore.  I can sleep through virtually anything, but that rhythmic snoring makes me crazy, so I did not have a good night.

Early the next morning we mustered everyone and headed up to the range.  Any outdoor range is really just a series of u-shaped areas where the u is a berm – a high pile of dirt, or in this case sand, designed to absorb the rounds that pass through or ricochet off of targets lined up on the open part of the u.  We wanted to get an early start because anyone on the range is required to wear body armor and a helmet.  It weighs maybe 40 pounds, and that can wear anyone out in 100 degree heat.  Anyway, we had a fairly large number of sailors to qualify, and even though they had all allegedly shot this particular weapon before I found many to be lacking basic knowledge, like where the safety is located or how to eject a magazine.  We were out there for 8-9 hours and at the end when everyone was done I had a chance to rip off a couple hundred rounds, including some on full auto.  That makes cleaning the weapon a pain, but that is one of many perks I get here.  Then it was a long drive back to Arifjan, and the last thing on my mind was this blog.  All I really wanted was a hot shower to wash off the sandy grit and dried up sweat.

The new sailors are integrating well.  I have always liked the fact that new sailors just tend to fit in easily with an already established group.  In my experience, and I am probably biased, the Navy has an easier time with accepting new people of various backgrounds and skills.  I think I have already mentioned that the Navy is miles ahead of most of the Army companies around here in terms of morale and disciplinary problems and that has tended to be the case whenever I have been in a joint environment.  Maybe it is because we don’t have a need for that strict battlefield chain of command and so are a little more laid back and tolerant of small deviations.  We also tend to be more lighthearted – the Navy unit up at Ali painted their emblem on the concrete wall outside their compound and while past units painted skulls or muscular fantastical creatures theirs is a pink unicorn with big eyes and a rainbow over it.  I am super jealous, that is one up on my huge wooden boat here in our Army compound.

USS Neversail

Come and get some, Al Qaeda

The most exciting news is that I get to travel a little outside of Kuwait.  I send sailors all over the place, including UAE, Oman and Jordan.  In the very near future there is a need to send a couple people to Jordan for a short mission, so I put myself on that list.  I have been all over Kuwait, this will be my first (and only) shot to see something else.  I plan to carve out time to see Petra at the very least.  There is potential impact to this blog, however, so please be patient.

One last note, if you get these posts by e-mail and then respond to the e-mail I won't get it.  The e-mail gets dumped into some electronic dumpster, to get me to see something you either have to leave a comment on the blog or e-mail me directly.

Dusty with a chance of dust

Had some SERIOUS dust storms this week.  The pictures really don’t do the storm justice as the before I have is not entirely clear – I’ll try to get one in the next day or two and update the blog even though it will violate my routine of only updating this on Sundays.  You also don’t get an appreciation for the colors.  When you look at sand in a normal state, say on a beach, it has a tan tint, right?  Now imagine that is all around you in the air in suspension – everything has that tan tint, so when you leave a tent with fluorescent lighting (with a blue tint since we have bulbs supplied by the lowest bidder) it is quite a shock to go out into this yellow world.  That dust and grit gets everywhere, in your mouth, eyes, nose, ears, and leaves a fine layer on everything once the wind dies down.  It also creates a haze in some buildings, most notably the dining facility.  For whatever reason the a/c setup in that building sucks in dust and swirls it around the place.  Sunglasses are a must, and lots of people wear dust masks or balaclavas (look it up).  Naturally my opinion is a bit different from most others – we breathe this stuff in every day as it is, this week we could just see it better.  Plus I am sure my body is fighting whatever toxins are in the air so I am only becoming stronger, which is bad news for evildoers.

Before

After

Another milestone passed for me this week as the Red Sox started the season in Yankee Stadium.  It is hard to get excited for baseball right now, though.  The NCAA tournament is coming to an end, the hockey and basketball playoffs are getting ready to start up and frankly the Red Sox were not only horrible last year but not at all likeable.  The teams of my youth were fun to follow all through the 70s and even the mostly mediocre teams of the early 80s had guys like Yaz, Dewey and then Wade Boggs.  The 2012 team was just awful and this team has a lot of new faces that make it difficult to know what they will be like, and I have not been able to follow them through Spring training like I usually do at home.  Yet another milestone is coming up – the only morning game on the whole major league schedule – the annual Patriot’s Day home game played concurrently with the running of the Boston Marathon.  That is what is great about baseball, there are all these idiosyncrasies like that:  the Wall, rally caps, the designated hitter in one league but not the other, and the ivy on the outfield walls at Wrigley that keep me interested and intrigued.  Interested but not excited yet, although reliving moments like this are a start.

Oh, and one more milestone this week!  This is the last immediate family birthday I will miss!  Unfortunately the birthday happens to be that of my lovely wife.  On the bright side Kevin, Allison and Dylan will be there on the day and then Glen, Kristen, Leah and Kelly will be there during the weekend after.  I am sure the kids have everything well in hand…

The beast is gone!