The "Deid" 4 Oct 07

I'm at Al Udeid. I've never been the type to look at a landscape and think of a poetic way to describe it. But this place, its complete, desolate and lifeless ugliness reflects the ugliness of the war we are fighting and demands a poetic attempt to describe it. When God put life on the Earth, he missed a spot, and I'm here. When he placed mountains, valleys, streams, rivers, and lakes, he passed by this place. He even forgot color -- everything is a blinding white. It stretches on to the horizon. If I had to imagine the world after nuclear war, I would think of this place. I'll be glad to leave it all behind.

The water we drink is all bottled and the water we use to bathe is trucked in. The sand forms a haze in every direction and when the sun shines it reflects off of the white sand and engulfs you. Most of the workers who take care of it are TCNs (Third Country Nationals). There are military members from the US (a lot of us), and I've met people from Australia, and England. The Coalition Air Operations Center (CAOC) is located here and they control all of the air space over Central Command (middle east). It also has a lot of transients (like me) who fly in and wait for a cargo plane to take them further down range into the AOR (Area Of Operations).

I'm living in a tent with rows and rows of bunkbeds. It is air conditioned and comfortable. The sun comes up around 4:30 and it's completely dark around 5:30 Food is good and has a lot of selection. It is 7 hours later here than EST.

It was really something to step off of that plane and be here, in the AOR. There are concrete bunkers and barriers everywhere to stop terror or other types of attacks (this place is very safe and the people stationed here are allowed to go to the city near by to shop, eat, etc. without any worry or concern, they just stay ready). The military cargo planes line the flight line, thousands of people in desert camo, all working to support the operations going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think I will feel something similar but more intense when I get off the plane in Iraq.