Camp Buehring!!

Greetings from Camp Buehring!!

It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since I last updated you all on my adventures. That is a good thing, as it means the time is passing fast. Also, I didn't want everyone to get bored with a "more of the same" type of blog. I have been trying to send an update over the last two weeks, but we have had some issues with internet access. As it turns out, an over motivated soldier was out doing some digging and sliced thru our internet cable. I has taken over a week to get it fixed. It came back on this afternoon, so I hopped on the blog before it goes out again.

I have been sent from the large Army facility in the south to the furthest northern Camp in Kuwait. Camp Buehring was formerly Camp Udairi (sounds more indigenous). It was renamed in memory of an Army officer who was killed several years ago in Baghdad. This a a decent aerial picture that I found on the web. It is a large forward base about 15 miles from Iraq. It is in the middle of nowhere. After leaving "civilization" in Southern Kuwait, you drive for well over an hour with a spectacular view of... nothing. Here is another shot of one of the highpoints of the drive north to Camp Buehring. The highpoint in this picture is the curve in the road...

When we first arrived over a month ago, we had large drapes on the bus which we weren't suppposed to move, so we couldn't see out the window. Last weekend I took a drive down to one of our other facilities and got to look around. There is nothing here. For miles and miles and miles. And miles. I did see some camel and goat carcasses, and scattered trash. The fact that we are "in the middle of nowhere" is not that big of a deal because we seldom leave the base. Our main hospital is to the south, at Camp Arifjan. Once or twice a month I will go down for meetings (I have one tomorrow), but otherwise we are here, in the desert.

Speaking of the desert, it is hot here. Really hot. Here is a thermometer (which is actually functioning properly). The weather man says daily average temperatures are 115-120, but we routinely see thermometers like this one reading about 125. Needless to say, we do not go out much... In terms of how hot it is, consider the following:

1. One one of my first days here, I was walking to lunch with a gal who actually thought her hair had caught on fire. She was sane.

2. When it is windy, the wind actually causes your fingers to burn. It is kind of like wind chill, but the other way around.

3. Although we have air conditioning in our "trailers", there is a common shared bathroom which is not air conditioned. Whenever you sit down to do some "business", it feels like big uncle Harry just left after one of his epic sessions on the commode. I am not taking about warm toilet seats, I am talking HOT toilet seat. Kinda gross when you think about it, huh?

The main purpose of this base is to provide a staging area for troops going north. It is an Army base, so the vast majority of troops here are US Army troops. There are a few thousand permanent party folks, and the rest are transient. The troops show up, their gear shows up, they do some training, and then head north. Most are here for a few weeks to a month. There are other coalition forces that pass through, and there are permanent party British and Austrailian forces as well as small contingents from the US Navy and Marines. There is a HUGE weapons range close by so the troops can go out and fire their weapons. They like to fire there weapons. Unfortunately, every once in a while they hit themselves or other unlucky camel/sheep herders. That is where Navy Medicine (me and my homeys) step in.

Amenities here are decent. I have a nice trailer which I will showcase in a future episode. For now, here are some of the local sights...

This is the really nice looking sign that greets you after you pass thru the maze of gates and security check points at the base entrance. I recently saw this for the first time during the weekly 5 K "fun run" (oxymoron) which I participate in every Wednesday morning at 0600. People often get their picture taken next to the sign. It is a sparkling monument which seems totally out of place with the rest of the base (which is covered in dust). If I get really desperate, I may walk up there myself for a photo-op.

By popular demand, I will show you all some more of the bathroom facilities available here for our use. I introduced you to the "Hot Boxes" in a prior episode, and many folks thought they were the bomb. Folks here think they are the bomb.

Anway, this is the hot boxes' big brother. It is affectionately known as the "wet crappers", or "fun house" depending on who you talk to. With my own latrine (Army word for head, which is the Navy word for toilet), I spend no time in these buildings - so don't expect pictures of the inside...

This is the base chapel. We have had a problem getting a priest up here to say mass regularly, but I hear that we will be getting our own priest soon.

We have a prayer service Saturday nights, and when the priest has time to come up, he usually comes Sunday morning. We also have a Chaplin who I met in California during our training. He is stationed at Camp Arifjan but comes up on Tuesdays and we do a bible study. He is a nice guy, so it is mostly a social visit with a bit of bible study mixed in. He is from the Church of the Nazarean, and essentially runs an interfaith christian study group. We had one member of the Jewish faith join us last week. Interesting...

Finally, I will show you where most of the transient folks live - the wonderful tents. There are "pads" of these things which stretch on forever on one side of the base. They are air conditioned, but have lots of soldiers stuffed into them. My friend Kevin Baker spent some time here either before or after his recent stint in Iraq. Jeff Hirsh stayed here also. George Washington has not stayed here... The large pallet of boxes are cartons of water, which are scattered all over this base. Don't drink it though because it is hot and will burn. It is free for the taking, so we can grab a case and put it in our refrigerators.

Oh, I almost forgot this one. Look closely. Yes, it is a big hole in the ground. It is close to my "trailer park". I have gotten comfortable with the fact that I live in a trailer park. (For those of you that get the joke, it is NOT a trailer down by the river). This hole was dug to prevent flooding when the rain comes. So, if you were wondering (as I was) if it rains here, the answer supposedly is yes. Has it rained in the last 40 days? NO. But I guess it does, and when it does it rains alot and the sand does a poor job of soaking up the rain. Who would have thought?

Okay, that is all the time I have, and you are likely bored. I will leave you with a new picture of myself and my silly moustache. I will likely shave it off soon. Yes, I know it doesn't look very good. But it is "What we do when we get deployed" The Navy is all about traditions, and this is one of them. The boys seem to like it, Kath does not. Oh well.

Hope you are all well. I miss you all. Please drop me a line...

KPT