My day started early today (well, early by the nocturnal standards of my life in theater - I rarely make it to bed before 4 a.m.). My peaceful and colorful dreams were interrupted by the klaxon sound of my cell phone - Army business, of course. When I hung up, I noticed an eerie silence in my room. A few seconds of analysis led to the answer...my air conditioner was not running. This is a bad, bad development in the austere desert environment. It turned out that the air conditioner was not working because the electricity was off. This is not an uncommon occurrence. All of our buildings and housing are powered by large, gas-fueled generators that require intensive maintenance to keep working. Periodic power shut downs are common as the local maintenance teams work on the generators.
No problem, I thought to myself. I would just use this as an opportunity to go into work a little early and get a little more done. Maybe even get ahead of some things, right? Wrong. I stepped into the shower, turned the handle, and discovered that the water was off as well. This is also a common occurrence here. Our water is trucked in daily by large tanker trucks that go from place to place on the post topping off the various water reservoirs that feed the pipes.
Note: This daily water ration has taught me a great deal about water conservation. As we have a finite amount of water to use every day, everyone has an obligation to be aqua-frugal. The practice of "combat showers" is enforced here. That is as follows: turn the water on, get wet, turn off the water - soap and shampoo - turn the water back on and rinse - turn the water off again.
Now, I am OK with the power going out and I am OK with the water being off - the two together...not so much. Maybe I've just gotten entirely too comfortable with my meager creature comforts. I should probably just think about my brothers who were here in 2003 and often went weeks without a shower. Nah, I'll just bitch about it on my blog.
So, I end up doing some basic personal hygiene (wash face, shave, brush teeth) with a one-liter bottle of water. Works well enough. Since I couldn't make coffee - another creature comfort I rely heavily on - I figured I would just stop off at the Green Beans Coffee and grab a MOAC. The MOAC, for those of you who are wondering, is short for the Mother Of All Coffees. It is a lovely invention developed by the good people at Green Beans Coffee. It consists of a 24-ounce cup of their house coffee with FOUR shots of espresso dumped in. It is a smoker that is guaranteed to wipe away even the most well-earned fatigue.
Approaching the Bean, I carefully listen for the sounds of generators - I don't know how far reaching this power outage is, after all. Good - the power is on here. I walk inside and ask Haseem, the Pakistani coffee guy for a MOAC. I leaf through a copy of Stars and Stripes as he loads up the espresso for brewing. The next thing I know, we are standing in the dark. The power outage has followed me to the Bean. After a few minutes, I throw in the towel and leave.
Luckily, I was able to get to my CP (Command Post, you civilians) and brew some rich, black Starbucks. It was a shaky start, though. I hope for better things tomorrow.
Mahalo for now. It's midnight and that means it is time to head over to the gym.
Cheers!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
It's All Connected
Twenty years ago today, the Iraqi Army rolled seven hundred tanks south across the Kuwaiti border and conquered the small Gulf state in two days. A few days later, the United States led a coalition force into Saudi Arabia and launched Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. The longest air strike in the history of aerial warfare was followed by an impressive land invasion that pushed the Iraqi forces back across the border in just under one hundred hours. U.S. forces remained in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in an effort to maintain the peace and stability of the region.
This U.S. presence in "The Kingdom" raised the ire of a young and rich Saudi who had funding Mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan and had helped them (with a little help from the United States Special Forces and CIA operatives) push the Soviet Union back across their own border. The Soviets had invaded Afghanistan a decade earlier. As a part of his efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bin Laden formed an Islamic militant organization called Al Qaeda. Following the war, Al Qaeda sought to move elsewhere around the globe to bring Jihad against the enemies of Islam. At the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Bin Laden - then living in Saudi Arabia again - offered the assistance of his army of Mujaheddin fighters to defeat Saddam Hussein's forces. The Saudi leader, King Fahd, declined the offer, preferring to allow the American-led coalition take the lead.
This angered Bin Laden. Aside from the perceived dismissal at the hands of his king, Bin Laden hated the idea of Western infidels living as guests on Saudi Arabian soil. He saw the American presence as disgracing the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia - the land of the two mosques. His outspoken protests resulted in Bin Laden's banishment from the kingdom.
He set up shop in the Sudan and, later, back in Afghanistan. He directed the efforts of Al Qaeda in the 1990s against the United States and its interests abroad. The 1993 World Trade Center bombings, the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and, finally, the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Of course, the September 11th attacks resulted in the United States initiating the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and the Global War on Terror. By extension, the Bush administration initiated the March 2003 invasion of Iraq in which Saddam Hussein was driven from power and subsequently captured, tried, and executed.
Today, twenty years to the day after those first Iraqi tanks rolled across the Kuwaiti border, I sit here deployed not fifteen miles from where they crossed. I remember walking into work on August 2, 1990. My friend, Wes, asked me if I had seen the news. He proceeded to inform me that "the Middle East just exploded." He added that our world would never be the same. Standing there in a the hallway of a suburban police station, I doubt either of us understood just how right he was in his assessment of what had happened that morning.
This angered Bin Laden. Aside from the perceived dismissal at the hands of his king, Bin Laden hated the idea of Western infidels living as guests on Saudi Arabian soil. He saw the American presence as disgracing the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia - the land of the two mosques. His outspoken protests resulted in Bin Laden's banishment from the kingdom.
He set up shop in the Sudan and, later, back in Afghanistan. He directed the efforts of Al Qaeda in the 1990s against the United States and its interests abroad. The 1993 World Trade Center bombings, the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and, finally, the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Of course, the September 11th attacks resulted in the United States initiating the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and the Global War on Terror. By extension, the Bush administration initiated the March 2003 invasion of Iraq in which Saddam Hussein was driven from power and subsequently captured, tried, and executed.
Today, twenty years to the day after those first Iraqi tanks rolled across the Kuwaiti border, I sit here deployed not fifteen miles from where they crossed. I remember walking into work on August 2, 1990. My friend, Wes, asked me if I had seen the news. He proceeded to inform me that "the Middle East just exploded." He added that our world would never be the same. Standing there in a the hallway of a suburban police station, I doubt either of us understood just how right he was in his assessment of what had happened that morning.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Love Reign Over Me
This morning, I enjoyed one of the little recurring pleasures we have here - I watched a DVD on my laptop. Today's selection was Mike Bender's 2007 drama, Reign Over Me, starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler. One of the truths about being on deployment is that the one thing you have in abundance is time. That being said, this film was a very worthwhile way to spend a hundred and twenty-four minutes of that time.
The film is about two dental school roommates (Sandler and Cheadle) who are reunited years later in New York City. While Cheadle runs a successful dental practice, it is apparent that the quirky and disheveled Sandler, who doesn't initially remember who Cheadle is, suffers from some type of mental disorder. As the story progresses, we learn that Sandler's character lost his wife and three daughters in the attacks of September 11th. They were flying from Boston to Los Angeles for a family wedding when their plane was hijacked.
Cheadle sets out to help his old friend make sense of his life and get psychiatric treatment; two things Sandler is resistant to because remembering is far too painful.
Sandler's performance is amazing, perhaps the best I've seen from him. His portrayal of Charlie Fineman is touching and poignant. He brings an incredibly subdued humor to this movie. In contrast to his normally over-the-top laughs, this portrayal is not slapstick at all. I was reminded at times of a young Dustin Hoffman. Sandler may very well have finally made the jump from comedic movie star to serious dramatic actor.
Cheadle, as always, dominates the screen with his subtle command of his craft.
Several other great actors and comedians round out the cast - Donald Sutherland, Robert Klein, Liv Tyler, and BJ Novak to name a few - but there is another supporting character deserving of mention: the music. Writer and director Mike Binder uses a specific selection of music including Bruce Springsteen, the Pretenders, and Jackson Browne to show how Sandler, mentally and emotionally running away from anything reminding him of his lost family, has taken to almost obsessively latching on to the music of his pre-marriage youth. Even down to his ongoing collecting of vinyl records. In addition, Sandler's character is never seen without his noise-canceling headphones and iPod that he uses to block out the outside world when it become too much for him to bear.
An honorary mention should go out to Pearl Jam for their cover of The Who's classic, Love Reign O'er Me. They honor the legacy of this song with an exceptional version recorded specifically for this film.
All in all this film is a portrayal of grief, love, loss, and mental illness. It is about friendship and camaraderie; it is about reaching out to a friend and helping in a time of need.
The film is about two dental school roommates (Sandler and Cheadle) who are reunited years later in New York City. While Cheadle runs a successful dental practice, it is apparent that the quirky and disheveled Sandler, who doesn't initially remember who Cheadle is, suffers from some type of mental disorder. As the story progresses, we learn that Sandler's character lost his wife and three daughters in the attacks of September 11th. They were flying from Boston to Los Angeles for a family wedding when their plane was hijacked.
Cheadle sets out to help his old friend make sense of his life and get psychiatric treatment; two things Sandler is resistant to because remembering is far too painful.
Sandler's performance is amazing, perhaps the best I've seen from him. His portrayal of Charlie Fineman is touching and poignant. He brings an incredibly subdued humor to this movie. In contrast to his normally over-the-top laughs, this portrayal is not slapstick at all. I was reminded at times of a young Dustin Hoffman. Sandler may very well have finally made the jump from comedic movie star to serious dramatic actor.
Cheadle, as always, dominates the screen with his subtle command of his craft.
Several other great actors and comedians round out the cast - Donald Sutherland, Robert Klein, Liv Tyler, and BJ Novak to name a few - but there is another supporting character deserving of mention: the music. Writer and director Mike Binder uses a specific selection of music including Bruce Springsteen, the Pretenders, and Jackson Browne to show how Sandler, mentally and emotionally running away from anything reminding him of his lost family, has taken to almost obsessively latching on to the music of his pre-marriage youth. Even down to his ongoing collecting of vinyl records. In addition, Sandler's character is never seen without his noise-canceling headphones and iPod that he uses to block out the outside world when it become too much for him to bear.
An honorary mention should go out to Pearl Jam for their cover of The Who's classic, Love Reign O'er Me. They honor the legacy of this song with an exceptional version recorded specifically for this film.
All in all this film is a portrayal of grief, love, loss, and mental illness. It is about friendship and camaraderie; it is about reaching out to a friend and helping in a time of need.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Sandbags and Cigar Smoke
Last night, we experienced an unusual drop in temperature. It felt like it was in the high-eighties, which is pretty nice for this part of the world. More importantly, there was no wind, therefore, no dust and sand. Lately, we've been beset by massive humidity in the evening hours.
The winds, called shamals, normally blow in across thousands of miles of desert. Sometimes, however, they shift and come in from the Persian Gulf, resulting in incredibly high humidity. We usually know when it is occurring because the smell of salt water precedes the humidity by an hour or two. This has been happening for the last two or three nights. It makes life difficult since the lack of humidity is pretty much the only thing that makes the 110 to 130 degree temperatures even remotely tolerable.
Last night, though, we caught a break. The temperature dropped and the shamals took a break from bringing us her sands or her humidity.
I took full advantage to the situation. I grabbed a Perdomo Habano-Corojo from my secret stash (a Pelican 1060 Micro Case turned field expedient humidor) and headed outside. I found a quiet and isolated spot outside the Command Post tent and lit up. Hard times demand simple pleasures. Sitting on the ground and resting my back against a pile of sandbags while the hum of diesel generators provided "mood music" in the background, I forgot about Kuwait, Iraq, the war, and about being deployed. Instead, I enjoyed a smooth cigar and looked at the stars that peppered the night sky.
As I watched the exhaled smoke drift away, I dreamed of home. Helping the kids with homework, helping Andrea make dinner, enjoying a glass of red wine, starting graduate school, watching Law & Order with Andrea, and running past houses in my neighborhood instead of past guard towers and concrete bunkers.
I was reminded about the two great benefits of hardship: it makes it much easier to appreciate what you have and it takes very little to improve on your situation with simple pleasures.
The winds, called shamals, normally blow in across thousands of miles of desert. Sometimes, however, they shift and come in from the Persian Gulf, resulting in incredibly high humidity. We usually know when it is occurring because the smell of salt water precedes the humidity by an hour or two. This has been happening for the last two or three nights. It makes life difficult since the lack of humidity is pretty much the only thing that makes the 110 to 130 degree temperatures even remotely tolerable.
Last night, though, we caught a break. The temperature dropped and the shamals took a break from bringing us her sands or her humidity.
I took full advantage to the situation. I grabbed a Perdomo Habano-Corojo from my secret stash (a Pelican 1060 Micro Case turned field expedient humidor) and headed outside. I found a quiet and isolated spot outside the Command Post tent and lit up. Hard times demand simple pleasures. Sitting on the ground and resting my back against a pile of sandbags while the hum of diesel generators provided "mood music" in the background, I forgot about Kuwait, Iraq, the war, and about being deployed. Instead, I enjoyed a smooth cigar and looked at the stars that peppered the night sky.
As I watched the exhaled smoke drift away, I dreamed of home. Helping the kids with homework, helping Andrea make dinner, enjoying a glass of red wine, starting graduate school, watching Law & Order with Andrea, and running past houses in my neighborhood instead of past guard towers and concrete bunkers.
I was reminded about the two great benefits of hardship: it makes it much easier to appreciate what you have and it takes very little to improve on your situation with simple pleasures.
Back in the Sand
Hello again, faithful readers. Regrettably, I am posting this, my latest entry, from my command tent in the blazing sands of the Arabian Desert. My days of enjoying time with my lovely wife and amazing children at our compound in Wasillastan are behind me. No worries. Our time in Alaska was incredibly well-spent and enriching. As with any vacation, there are a few things I would have liked to do that we were unable to get to, but overall it was fun and action-packed. More importantly, I accomplished the thing I most wanted to do, which was to spend lots of time hanging out with the clan.
I managed to fly in and out of nine airports in two weeks - Kuwait International, Leipzig-Halle in Germany, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Anchorage, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta, then Leipzig Halle and Kuwait International again.
The high point of the traveling was probably Dallas. The American Airlines' Admirals Club in Dallas allows Soldiers traveling on R&R to use their facilities for free. Joe simply walks up to the reception desk in uniform and presents his DA Form 31 (the ever valuable leave authorization paperwork) and boarding pass to the clerk and he or she is granted access to the inner sanctum. The high point for me was the private shower room. Fresh towels, soap, shampoo, and a shaving kit in a nicely decorated and freshly cleaned private shower. After spending more than half a day sweating in the heat at Ali Al Saleem Airbase in preparation for leaving Kuwait followed by another thirty-six hours of trans-Atlantic traveling, I was more than ready for the relaxation of a hot shower. The coffee there was excellent, as well.
The low point of the traveling was definitely in Atlanta. After we boarded the filled-to-capacity charter flight that was going to take us back to Babylon, we experienced one delay for an equipment malfunction (repaired on site) and a second due to heavy congestion on the runway. All in all, we sat on this crowded airplane for two and a half hours prior to take-off. Thankfully, the folks in charge didn't feel the need to let us disembark the aircraft and wait the two and a half hours in the comfortable and air-conditioned terminal. It was much more character building to wait it out in my cramped airplane seat with no air-conditioning.
Finally, we got airborne and worked our way back across the Atlantic and into Arabia. I spent the first half of the trip working on a paper for school. By the time we reached Germany, my laptop was dead. After that, I finished reading Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut while drinking cup after cup of black coffee and listening to the Ramones on my iPod.
It didn't take long to settle back into the daily grind of desert life. Bland food on plastic plates, my messy and hygienically-challenged roommate, waking up to the sounds of Blackhawk and Apache helicopter rotors, and, of course, walking through the blinding sandstorms that leave tiny particles of sand embedded in your eyes, ears, hair, clothes, and every exposed wrinkle. On the positive side, I brought back a little bit of Alaskan delight with me - six beautiful bags of Raven's Brew coffee, one of the most delicious blends of joe ever roasted.
That's enough for now. I've got to check out of the net for a while. Tonight is grilled steak and crab legs night at the DFAC (Dining Facility, the facility formerly known as the Chow Hall. That's another thing I missed during my brief stay in America...the art of knowing what day it is by the dinner menu!
I managed to fly in and out of nine airports in two weeks - Kuwait International, Leipzig-Halle in Germany, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Anchorage, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta, then Leipzig Halle and Kuwait International again.
The high point of the traveling was probably Dallas. The American Airlines' Admirals Club in Dallas allows Soldiers traveling on R&R to use their facilities for free. Joe simply walks up to the reception desk in uniform and presents his DA Form 31 (the ever valuable leave authorization paperwork) and boarding pass to the clerk and he or she is granted access to the inner sanctum. The high point for me was the private shower room. Fresh towels, soap, shampoo, and a shaving kit in a nicely decorated and freshly cleaned private shower. After spending more than half a day sweating in the heat at Ali Al Saleem Airbase in preparation for leaving Kuwait followed by another thirty-six hours of trans-Atlantic traveling, I was more than ready for the relaxation of a hot shower. The coffee there was excellent, as well.
The low point of the traveling was definitely in Atlanta. After we boarded the filled-to-capacity charter flight that was going to take us back to Babylon, we experienced one delay for an equipment malfunction (repaired on site) and a second due to heavy congestion on the runway. All in all, we sat on this crowded airplane for two and a half hours prior to take-off. Thankfully, the folks in charge didn't feel the need to let us disembark the aircraft and wait the two and a half hours in the comfortable and air-conditioned terminal. It was much more character building to wait it out in my cramped airplane seat with no air-conditioning.
Finally, we got airborne and worked our way back across the Atlantic and into Arabia. I spent the first half of the trip working on a paper for school. By the time we reached Germany, my laptop was dead. After that, I finished reading Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut while drinking cup after cup of black coffee and listening to the Ramones on my iPod.
It didn't take long to settle back into the daily grind of desert life. Bland food on plastic plates, my messy and hygienically-challenged roommate, waking up to the sounds of Blackhawk and Apache helicopter rotors, and, of course, walking through the blinding sandstorms that leave tiny particles of sand embedded in your eyes, ears, hair, clothes, and every exposed wrinkle. On the positive side, I brought back a little bit of Alaskan delight with me - six beautiful bags of Raven's Brew coffee, one of the most delicious blends of joe ever roasted.
That's enough for now. I've got to check out of the net for a while. Tonight is grilled steak and crab legs night at the DFAC (Dining Facility, the facility formerly known as the Chow Hall. That's another thing I missed during my brief stay in America...the art of knowing what day it is by the dinner menu!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The Land of the Midnight Sun
I thought the hardest thing to adjust to would be going from the 120 degree, desolate, flat deserts to the 58-72 degree, lush, mountains - but I was wrong. The strangest adjustment, thus far, has been the white nights. The white nights, or midnight sun, is the phenomenon common near the Arctic Circle in which the sun stays above the horizon for over twenty hours a day and nightfall is never darker than twilight. The most obvious effect is the lack of natural time sense. On more than one occasion, we've been sitting in our mountain cabin in the afternoon puzzled at why everyone is so hungry. A simple glance at my watch reveals the mystery - it's ten o'clock at night and we haven't had dinner! Of course, the positive side is that we have more than enough hours of daylight to do activities with the kids and to see the amazing mountain ranges that encircle us.
The landscape and the wildlife here are amazing. Bald eagles fly overhead and moose occasionally wander into people's yards. Local hiking stores carry ample supplies of large pepper spray canisters to help hikers and campers ward off bears. The accepted protocol for dealing with bears, besides avoidance, seems to be as follows: make noise so the bear is inclined to go the other way; if the bear continues to approach because he appears curious or in want of your food, make threatening noises that let the bear know that you "mean business"; if the bear is not dissuaded by your noises and charges, you should stand your ground as most bear charges are bluffs (most). Finally, if the bear does attack, your choices are to get into a fetal position to protect your vital organs or, and this is my favorite advice, fight the bear. Yes, folks, you read that correctly. The correct and appropriate defense against a bear attack is to fight the 1500 pound alpha predator and hope for the best. Obviously, I hope our vacation happens without a hitch, but if I did happen to find myself hiking in Denali National Park with my family and end up kicking a bear's ass - I'll have the best vacation story EVER.
I photographed this guy stealing nest building materials from other birds at Potter Marsh, a Coastal Wildlife Refuge located just south of Anchorage. The marsh has a boardwalk to make it accessible to pedestrians and allow people to view wildlife up close.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Music Across the Ages
My friend George and I have started sort of a music exchange recently. A while back, he posted some information about a new album by a band called The Hold Steady. I'd never heard them, so I asked him to load some tunes up and send them to me. What I got was a flash drive with a couple of dozen albums. Really good shit, too. Mostly guitar heavy, story-teller type stuff and jam bands. I decided to return the favor so, after I loaded the music onto my hard drive and iPod, I loaded up a couple of dozen different albums and sent the flash drive back to George.
A generation ago - when I was a young man in my early twenties - having access to that much music while on a deployment would involve having boxes and boxes of cassette tapes. That simply wasn't practical when space is a premium.
I still recall packing for our U.N. deployment to Egypt in 1987. I don't recall if I purchased a new Walkman for the trip, although I probably did; but I do recall sorting through my cassette tapes to ensure that I only picked the very best of the best. Stuff I wouldn't mind listening to over and over again.
Not to sound nostalgic, but those ancient music players had some great qualities. For example, if you dumped your Walkman in the water - like I did with my iPod when I fell into my canal a few months ago - all you lost was maybe the Walkman and maybe the one cassette that was inside. You didn't lose your entire collection of over five thousand songs, which is what almost happened to me. Luckily, I had backed my music up with an external hard drive.
Five or six of the albums George sent were unplayable my me because those cancerous jackals at iTunes blocked me out since I didn't buy the songs and, therefore, lacked the proper licensure. Guess what??? No friggin' cassette or CD ever refused to play for me because I couldn't produce a receipt form Spec's!!!
Anyway, it's good to have some new music. That becomes critical during the long and boring hours that these deployments can be made up of.
A generation ago - when I was a young man in my early twenties - having access to that much music while on a deployment would involve having boxes and boxes of cassette tapes. That simply wasn't practical when space is a premium.
I still recall packing for our U.N. deployment to Egypt in 1987. I don't recall if I purchased a new Walkman for the trip, although I probably did; but I do recall sorting through my cassette tapes to ensure that I only picked the very best of the best. Stuff I wouldn't mind listening to over and over again.
Not to sound nostalgic, but those ancient music players had some great qualities. For example, if you dumped your Walkman in the water - like I did with my iPod when I fell into my canal a few months ago - all you lost was maybe the Walkman and maybe the one cassette that was inside. You didn't lose your entire collection of over five thousand songs, which is what almost happened to me. Luckily, I had backed my music up with an external hard drive.
Five or six of the albums George sent were unplayable my me because those cancerous jackals at iTunes blocked me out since I didn't buy the songs and, therefore, lacked the proper licensure. Guess what??? No friggin' cassette or CD ever refused to play for me because I couldn't produce a receipt form Spec's!!!
Anyway, it's good to have some new music. That becomes critical during the long and boring hours that these deployments can be made up of.
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