Life at Al Udeid

Here are the transient tents we're staying in. Mine's the brown one (or was it the tan one?).

"The Bra" where most hanging out is done (so to speak!)

The latrines or "Cadillacs." I wonder if it's got a 30,000 mile warranty?

Things over here are the same, but different at the same time. Evidence the regular old Nissan Pathfinder, same as you'd find in the states, but the license plate let's you know you're not in Kansas anymore. Interestingly, while words are read left-to-right in Arabic, numbers are read right-to-left. Anyone have any idea why? I've yet to figure that one out.

Al Udeid must be a nice place to while away a deployment, they've even got volleyball!

Here I wait, bored and jet-lagged for a seat on a plane getting me to Baghdad. Since I'm going to be here for another 24 hours, I thought I'd snap a few pics and share what the living conditions over here are like.

First off, I'm staying in temporary quarters, so the folks that are here for there deployment are probably getting better quarters, but the common areas are all the same. The chow hall (sorry, "dining facility" or DFAC, we're not supposed to call it a chow hall) is pretty good. Open 24 hours and all I have to do is show my ID. Plenty of sun, sand, and all you can eat 24 hours a day...it's like I'm on a cruise!

The tent I'm staying in houses 48 people in bunk beds. The accomodations aren't really all that bad, you just have to get used to sleeping with a light on, since there is inevitably someone coming in or going out pretty much all the time. The bathrooms are in trailers called "Cadillacs" and are actually not too bad, though the fly strips hanging up outside the stalls betrays a liklihood of being a bit, shall we say, malodorous during the heat of summer.

I have wireless acces in the Coalition Center, an open air common area called "the bra" because the two huge white canopies over top look like..well...a bra (see the pic above). We also have access to a community center with pool tables, video games, and TVs (all playing Armed Forces Networkor, AFN). The weather has been good so far, highs during the day are around 80 and upper 50s at night. There's a nice gym, a coffee shop, and a pool, though I don't think I'll be utilizing the pool. Thw chow is okay, but it's tempered by the coffee being excellent.

Anyway, there's not much more to say, I don't really have anything to do here other than wait and check email while I've got access. I suppose it could be worse. Hopefully my next post will be from Baghdad!