Here's the card that started it all:
And here's the link to the blog post they wrote with my interview:
-A
Showing posts with label Kuwait. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kuwait. Show all posts
Friday, February 1, 2013
How to Cope When Deployment Means Missing Family Milestones.
I'm pretty excited about this post. I pinned our Christmas card from 2011 on Pinterest (from when Trevor was in Kuwait) and it went a tad viral. Among those who got a hold of it was the Facebook fan page "Military Spouse Central," a part of Veterans United. Within a day, our Christmas card had over 22,000 "likes." I commented that it was ours with a very brief update of what the last year had brought us. They responded asking to interview me for their blog and, of course, I obliged.
Here's the card that started it all:
Here's the card that started it all:
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The Journey Home.
All of the ADVON (Advance Party) personnel had to meet at the bus and load our gear at 0800 on 4-APR-2012. We loaded our gear onto the truck and took the 30-minute trip down to LSA (a base where most of the traveling is coordinated). Once there, we all unloaded our gear off the truck. After that, we are told that we have to meet in an hour for a formation. Well, no formation was held, but we were told that we had an additional couple hours to "hang out" or get chow...whatever. After those couple hours we had a briefing that lasted all of about 20 minutes. Then, we sat in that tent for another 40 minutes or so. We shuffled all of our gear over to the customs tent and had to have all of our bags x-rayed and then our person had to be imaged. This was a long process to get everyone through this station who was set to be on the flight. Lastly, we all went into a secured area on "lock-down" for the next 4 hours or so.
After the 4 hours of waiting we all had to get into alphabetical order to prepare to load the buses to transport us to the airport. This process took about an hour until we loaded up on buses and headed to the airport. The trip to the airport took roughly 2 hours. Once there, we all got onto the plane and waited there for about 30 minutes until takeoff 45 minutes past midnight.
This leg of the trip took us to Liepzig, Germany. It was about a 6.5 hour flight. We all disembarked the aircraft to sit in a waiting area for the next couple hours while they refueled the plane and changed the "crew." Then, we all hopped back on and took off about 30 minutes later.
At this point, it is about 10 a.m. Kuwait time. We take off en route for Bangor, Maine, which is a 7 hour flight. I slept most of the way. We landed in Maine where we were greeted by Vets of many conflicts as well as a hand full of various civilians and their families. This is
a pretty powerful moment for me...getting back to America after being gone for so long is just a feeling I couldn't describe appropriately. It is just an amazing feeling!
After the 4 hours of waiting we all had to get into alphabetical order to prepare to load the buses to transport us to the airport. This process took about an hour until we loaded up on buses and headed to the airport. The trip to the airport took roughly 2 hours. Once there, we all got onto the plane and waited there for about 30 minutes until takeoff 45 minutes past midnight.
This leg of the trip took us to Liepzig, Germany. It was about a 6.5 hour flight. We all disembarked the aircraft to sit in a waiting area for the next couple hours while they refueled the plane and changed the "crew." Then, we all hopped back on and took off about 30 minutes later.
At this point, it is about 10 a.m. Kuwait time. We take off en route for Bangor, Maine, which is a 7 hour flight. I slept most of the way. We landed in Maine where we were greeted by Vets of many conflicts as well as a hand full of various civilians and their families. This is
a pretty powerful moment for me...getting back to America after being gone for so long is just a feeling I couldn't describe appropriately. It is just an amazing feeling!
After a 2 hour wait there, we got back onto the plane and headed to Pope Air Force Base right by Ft. Bragg. Here is where about 20% of the plane's population got off for their welcome home ceremony. These folks were all Active Duty personnel who are stationed at Ft. Bragg.
After about a 2.5 hour wait there, we all got back onto the plane and headed to Gulf Port, MS, which was a 2 hour trip. We landed there and were greeted by a General and many of the Rear Detachment (non-deployed) Full time Staff who are here to prepare for us to demobilize. Then, we loaded up the buses and took the 1.5 hour trip to Camp Shelby, MS. Once we arrived here at about 1930 (7:30pm), 0330 Kuwait time on the 6th of APR, we unloaded all of our bags and headed to our temporary housing for the time being. So, a total traveling experience taking roughly 43 hours from start to finish, or from Camp Buehring, Kuwait to Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
As much as I needed a shower, I need sleep more! I wasn't feeling all too well from all of the traveling...taking off and landing..sitting...waiting...airline food, etc. So, I hit the sack around 1030 p.m. to get some rest to be able to get up, shower and eat before I had to be in formation at 0645 the next morning to begin our demobilizing experience.
After about a 2.5 hour wait there, we all got back onto the plane and headed to Gulf Port, MS, which was a 2 hour trip. We landed there and were greeted by a General and many of the Rear Detachment (non-deployed) Full time Staff who are here to prepare for us to demobilize. Then, we loaded up the buses and took the 1.5 hour trip to Camp Shelby, MS. Once we arrived here at about 1930 (7:30pm), 0330 Kuwait time on the 6th of APR, we unloaded all of our bags and headed to our temporary housing for the time being. So, a total traveling experience taking roughly 43 hours from start to finish, or from Camp Buehring, Kuwait to Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
As much as I needed a shower, I need sleep more! I wasn't feeling all too well from all of the traveling...taking off and landing..sitting...waiting...airline food, etc. So, I hit the sack around 1030 p.m. to get some rest to be able to get up, shower and eat before I had to be in formation at 0645 the next morning to begin our demobilizing experience.
Here's what I look like after about 40 hours of travel.
Now...I'm here at Camp Shelby for the next few weeks to a month. This should prove to be an interesting month. I am excited as all hell to be in America as it is another step closer to HOME! When I actually get to come HOME, however, I will probably be the happiest man alive!!! The day is coming!!! I will see you all soon!!!
-T
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Kuwait City.
Someone thought it would be a good idea to have a "Staff Spiritual Fitness Event" to give some of the staff (the people who do all of the behind the scenes work) a break from the daily grind. We took off about 0800 to head to KNB (Kuwait Naval Base), which is only about 15 minutes from AJ, or about 2 hours away from Camp Buehring.
When we arrived, we were greeted by someone from the 1-125 FA (New Ulm) unit stationed down there. This person was our "tour guide." He took us all around- we saw the pier with a bunch of Army, yes Army, ships! I had no clue that the Army even had ships. Well, we do and a lot of them!!! I was not authorized to take any pictures of the ships for security reasons, but I saw a bunch of them! Then, we got a tour of one of the ships....that was pretty cool! Once we checked out the PX (something that every Soldier does when they see a new base to see how the other half lives) we were off to Kuwait City. Err, wait...nope! When we got to the gate to leave the base, the roads were deemed "red" by Force Protection due to wind and sand decreasing the visibility. Well, this means that you need clearance from a 2-Star General to leave post. So, we head back to the PX area on base. We decided to wait it out at the Dunkin Donuts where I had a delicious iced caramel cappuccino. We were sitting for approximately a half hour until we got the word that the roads were "green" again. Now, we were finally headed to Kuwait City to see the Kuwaiti Towers.
The towers were pretty cool. Nothing too special, but they look cool and it was a pretty sweet view of Kuwait City and the Gulf.
Once we finished up at the towers, we headed off to the Raddisson Blu, a restaurant inside a wooden ship! I know, right? Well, this place was decked to the hilt! When I say that it was in a ship, I meant that literally! The wood had all kinds of engravings, everything was put together well, dimly lit, quiet environment.
All 18 of us piled in there and gave our orders. Some stuck with US Beef Steak, while others dined on various seafood varieties or lamb. Orders were taken and it was time to feast on the hors d'oeuvres- they had all kinds of smoked meats, fish, shrimp, veggies, and all kinds of "other stuff" I had never seen before, nor have any way to effectively describe. I took some of everything (really full plate!). I liked almost every last thing on my plate, which was about 20 different items. I had about 5 different types of cheeses- those of you who know me well know how much I like me some cheese and they were amazing!!! Then, it was time for our main course.
I got some kind of fish and lobster tail. The fish was cooked head, skin, eye-balls, and all....it was delicious!!! The meat was incredibly moist, yet it pretty much fell right off the bones. Sooo good! The lobster tail was ok, but nowhere near as good as the fish. Dessert time- there was 5 items- a couple slices of a couple different cakes, raspberry sherbet in some kind of spoon-like cone/shell thingy, kiwi, strawberry, and pineapple. Everything was delicious.
Oh, I didn't mention the juice. Well, they had these juices that were all amazing. I had strawberry while others had carrot (weird people) or kiwi. Incredible! It was so good I had two. In the end, it cost me 25 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD), which is roughly $85. Yeah, was not expecting that, nor was I expecting each juice to be 3 KD a piece (yeah, about $10 per juice). Regardless of costs, the meal was truly amazing as was the environment. After all bills were paid, we were invited to the top deck area for a dessert coffee.
We sat for about 10 minutes, then headed out to the deck where we took some photos and wrapped up our adventure. Lastly, we got out on the road to head on back to Camp Buehring. It was cool to see the city at night. We even got to witness a little drag-racing...lol. There was a jeep that tried to race a mustang GT 500. Needless to say, the Mustang won, but not before almost swerving into oncoming traffic. wow! We finally got back to the base around 2230 (10:30 pm). It was a fun little adventure and break from the everyday crap around here. As much as I was considering staying back on base and working, I was glad I decided to go. There aren't many occasions to do something like this (have any of YOU been dining out in Kuwait City???) so I jumped on it after some coaxing from my LT...he's one of the good ones.
-T
When we arrived, we were greeted by someone from the 1-125 FA (New Ulm) unit stationed down there. This person was our "tour guide." He took us all around- we saw the pier with a bunch of Army, yes Army, ships! I had no clue that the Army even had ships. Well, we do and a lot of them!!! I was not authorized to take any pictures of the ships for security reasons, but I saw a bunch of them! Then, we got a tour of one of the ships....that was pretty cool! Once we checked out the PX (something that every Soldier does when they see a new base to see how the other half lives) we were off to Kuwait City. Err, wait...nope! When we got to the gate to leave the base, the roads were deemed "red" by Force Protection due to wind and sand decreasing the visibility. Well, this means that you need clearance from a 2-Star General to leave post. So, we head back to the PX area on base. We decided to wait it out at the Dunkin Donuts where I had a delicious iced caramel cappuccino. We were sitting for approximately a half hour until we got the word that the roads were "green" again. Now, we were finally headed to Kuwait City to see the Kuwaiti Towers.
The towers were pretty cool. Nothing too special, but they look cool and it was a pretty sweet view of Kuwait City and the Gulf.
All 18 of us piled in there and gave our orders. Some stuck with US Beef Steak, while others dined on various seafood varieties or lamb. Orders were taken and it was time to feast on the hors d'oeuvres- they had all kinds of smoked meats, fish, shrimp, veggies, and all kinds of "other stuff" I had never seen before, nor have any way to effectively describe. I took some of everything (really full plate!). I liked almost every last thing on my plate, which was about 20 different items. I had about 5 different types of cheeses- those of you who know me well know how much I like me some cheese and they were amazing!!! Then, it was time for our main course.
I got some kind of fish and lobster tail. The fish was cooked head, skin, eye-balls, and all....it was delicious!!! The meat was incredibly moist, yet it pretty much fell right off the bones. Sooo good! The lobster tail was ok, but nowhere near as good as the fish. Dessert time- there was 5 items- a couple slices of a couple different cakes, raspberry sherbet in some kind of spoon-like cone/shell thingy, kiwi, strawberry, and pineapple. Everything was delicious.
Oh, I didn't mention the juice. Well, they had these juices that were all amazing. I had strawberry while others had carrot (weird people) or kiwi. Incredible! It was so good I had two. In the end, it cost me 25 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD), which is roughly $85. Yeah, was not expecting that, nor was I expecting each juice to be 3 KD a piece (yeah, about $10 per juice). Regardless of costs, the meal was truly amazing as was the environment. After all bills were paid, we were invited to the top deck area for a dessert coffee.
We sat for about 10 minutes, then headed out to the deck where we took some photos and wrapped up our adventure. Lastly, we got out on the road to head on back to Camp Buehring. It was cool to see the city at night. We even got to witness a little drag-racing...lol. There was a jeep that tried to race a mustang GT 500. Needless to say, the Mustang won, but not before almost swerving into oncoming traffic. wow! We finally got back to the base around 2230 (10:30 pm). It was a fun little adventure and break from the everyday crap around here. As much as I was considering staying back on base and working, I was glad I decided to go. There aren't many occasions to do something like this (have any of YOU been dining out in Kuwait City???) so I jumped on it after some coaxing from my LT...he's one of the good ones.
-T
Monday, March 26, 2012
Golfing in Kuwait.
Trevor's first post from Kuwait!
So, about 10 of us from the Medical Platoon went for a golf trip near
Kuwait City. We had to go to AJ first to meet up with another 10
golfers and the MWR folks who were supposed to bus us all to the
course. Well, when we got to AJ, they said that the bus was
cancelled, so LT and I agreed that we were going on this trip no
matter what! We had been planning on this for over a month and
looking forward to it. So, we decided to head out there on our own.
Kuwait City. We had to go to AJ first to meet up with another 10
golfers and the MWR folks who were supposed to bus us all to the
course. Well, when we got to AJ, they said that the bus was
cancelled, so LT and I agreed that we were going on this trip no
matter what! We had been planning on this for over a month and
looking forward to it. So, we decided to head out there on our own.
When we got there at about 1030, we took a couple pictures...we were
in awe of all the grass!!!
in awe of all the grass!!!
Ok, this grass is more like well-kept
weeds than grass, but green short stuff nonetheless. What caught me
the most off guard was the smell- the smell of moisture and living
things...you know...plants. lol. We got our rental clubs and paid
our green fees..then, it was off to the first tee.
weeds than grass, but green short stuff nonetheless. What caught me
the most off guard was the smell- the smell of moisture and living
things...you know...plants. lol. We got our rental clubs and paid
our green fees..then, it was off to the first tee.
We all shanked our drives with the exception of my LT...his was
straight down the fairway (lucky dog). Mine was a slice from hell!!!
We continued on and my game improved after a few holes. Then, it was
like my old self, only, with crappy clubs and being in the
middle-east. I had a good competition going with my LT, he was up 4
on me after the first two holes, but I slowly crept up on him
throughout the 9 holes.
straight down the fairway (lucky dog). Mine was a slice from hell!!!
We continued on and my game improved after a few holes. Then, it was
like my old self, only, with crappy clubs and being in the
middle-east. I had a good competition going with my LT, he was up 4
on me after the first two holes, but I slowly crept up on him
throughout the 9 holes.
Well, I had the opportunity to beat him on the 9th and final hole. I
had to sink a 4 ft. putt and missed. So, I had to tap in for a
tie...I missed! So, he proceeded to harass me about it and will
inevitably never let it die. When we get home, we will play
again...and I WILL BE THE VICTOR!!! Well, we'll see.
had to sink a 4 ft. putt and missed. So, I had to tap in for a
tie...I missed! So, he proceeded to harass me about it and will
inevitably never let it die. When we get home, we will play
again...and I WILL BE THE VICTOR!!! Well, we'll see.
All-in-all, we got to get off the base for a few hours, have some fun
and relax. We all got plenty of sun and enjoyed an absolutely
beautiful day. These are incredibly hard to come by as this was, by
far, the best day I have had in this country. It is rather odd that I
got to golf while on a deployment. It is especially strange
considering our geographical location. Nonetheless, it was a
wonderful day with some relaxing fun in the desert sun.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saint Patrick's Day.
St. Patrick's Day in Kuwait:
These photos were taken in the middle of the day Kuwait time...in the middle of a sandstorm.
These photos were taken in the middle of the day Kuwait time...in the middle of a sandstorm.
St. Patrick's Day in MN:
And here's a snapshot of the weather in both places this weekend.
This was the weather at 10:30am in Minnesota and 6:30pm in Kuwait. Not fair because of the time difference, you say? Well, our highs have been right around 80 all weekend. Theirs? 77 and 66. This is still winter in Minnesota, and they're in the desert. Some things just don't make sense.
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