Bob says:
Below is another letter from my friend Joe Matis, a Navy Seabee who is currently serving in Kuwait. Here's his latest news:
17 December 2006
Seasons Greetings to All from Kuwait! Hope this finds you well and in good Holiday Spirits (or spirits, if that’s what it takes! But I won’t dwell on that subject, having been in dry Kuwait for almost 4 months now.)
Some fairly exciting evolutions have happened since I last wrote, which served well to break up the daily monotony of work/life here.
We had a weapons qualification exercise at one of the local ranges. Although the threat level here is fairly low, particularly compared to up north, we are still required to be armed at all times when off camp, which occurs frequently as we travel from camp to camp. As such, it’s important to stay proficient with our assigned weapon, the M9, (9mm Berretta semi-automatic pistol, standard US military issue) that all personnel in our Det (detachment) have been issued (and no, we don’t sleep with our weapons like the Marines, and I don’t have a name for mine, either.) Therefore, we all ventured out one early morning several weeks ago for some live fire training. And, as you know, there’s nothing like the smell of gunpowder in the morning, or, as the Gunny (USMC Gunnery Sergeant) who was our range instructor so eloquently put it “any day that you get to put live rounds down-range is a good day!” You gotta love the Marines!
The next big event was when our cages were opened for a day and we actually got to go into town to see some sites with an escorted MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation) tour.
I have to say as a side note that there is kind of a double-standard in-country as there are many US civilians here, either working for the government or private contractors, and they live out in town and are free to go wherever they please. However, none of the military personnel are allowed to go into town (unless on official business) without an escort, and then only to visit certain places. Guess it’s because the Army is afraid of letting loose all of their troops into town and having some sort of international incident occur (which unfortunately, no doubt inevitably would.) So the funny thing about that is that we interact frequently with US civilians and Kuwaiti contractors and vendors who always say things like “you should eat at this place” or “you should visit this place” when the only places we’re eating at and visiting are the DFAC (dining facility) and PX (post exchange) on camp, respectively! Talk about fun…
The places we got to visit on the MWR tour were the Grand Mosque of Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Towers, and the Al Khut shopping mall (see if you can guess which one is not like the others when it comes to a cultural significance!) The Grand Mosque was very impressive and interesting, since I’ve never been inside a mosque before. Before going inside, the ladies in our group had to put on the traditional hajib (head scarf) and abaya (gown) worn by Kuwaiti women; also, everyone in the group had to take off their shoes before entering the main area. What impressed me most was all the detailed finish work on the walls, columns, ceilings, etc. All of which were hand-crafted, with many ceramic mosaics inlays and gypsum carvings. As with everything we’ve done since deploying, I have many photos documenting the experience, which hopefully I can share with all of you on my return, as words can’t adequately describe (so I won’t try.)
The next stop was the Kuwaiti Towers, which are a national landmark and symbol of Kuwait. There are three towers, one of which is a single “spike” which I’m told contains antennas, and the other two that are “globes” mounted on pylons. One of the globes is a water tank, and the other one, which is the largest structure, contains a restaurant on one level and a two-tiered observation deck on another level, both of which revolve. Since we arrived too early for lunch, which was our original plan, we decided to just ride up to the observation deck and check it out. I can’t remember the exact rate of revolution of the observation deck, but it was fast enough to make me a bit queasy from the weird sensation that the outside was moving instead of you. In the observation area, there was an outside ring of the floor that moved and an inside ring that was stationary, which I didn’t realize until I was standing with one foot on the outside ring and the other on the inside ring taking a picture and all of the sudden wondering why only half of my body was moving!
The last stop on our tour was to the (Kuwait famous?) Al Khut shopping mall. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed as guess I pictured that we were in for an exotic shopping experience at some local souk (bazaar) but instead we ended up at a place that could’ve been plucked from Anytown, USA and dropped there, complete with many of the same retail stores. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very nice place, there was a marina next to it with some very impressive yachts and the inside had a large open air court yard with a huge fountain (basically picture your typical high-end shopping mall back home.) And we got to eat at a sit down (Lebanese) restaurant which was a first since we left the states and we sat next to a bunch of guys smoking water pipes, which was a bit different from home. I guess the most interesting, unique part of the mall was that there was a section that had a market in it, which was subdivided into different sections (fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood, etc.) where vendors had booths set up. We first walked through the fruit/vegetable section which was quite like a farmer’s market back home and then continued into the butcher’s section. Let’s just say that, after walking past rows of freshly slaughtered sheep and goats hanging in the storefronts along with rows of cages of chickens about to be freshly slaughtered, we were eager to proceed quickly into the seafood section where the smell was much better! After that, we decided to take the outside (i.e. fresh air) route back to where we started. Nothing like dead animal smell to ruin your mall shopping spree!
Overall, it was great just to get out and feel like a normal (civilian) person again. If/when you do get to go into town, you must wear civilian clothes, which to me (after wearing desert camouflage every day) is just an added bonus. We are supposed to take another MWR trip in January to a science center and, wait for it…another mall! That’s something to look forward to as I think it really breaks up the time here and helps it to move more quickly.
Speaking of time moving quickly, this past Friday, 15 Dec, marked the official half way point of our deployment, at least as far as I’m counting (others are tracking different dates as the start point, i.e. when we left for mobilization, or when we got in country. I’m counting the start as the turnover on 15 Sep with the Det we relieved; so 6 months total time from there. It’s really just however you want to rationalize it.) The other good thing to know is that personnel with the Det that will be relieving us now have their orders in hand, which gives us a warm feeling about being able to leave! Here’s hoping the last 3 months goes as well as the first 3!
That’s all for now. Here’s Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Joyous New Year!
Take care. Thanks for all your support.
Love, Joe
Outside the Grand Mosque; ladies are officers with our Det.
Group photo @ the Kuwaiti Towers.
At the Observation Level atop the Tower.
Al Khut Mall Courtyard
Stores Inside Al Khut Mall
Sign of Civilization?
I loved the description of the mall. Goats in the mall are not a good idea. They really stink. I think goats stink more than dead chickens and fish. I think I would like my hajib to not stink like a goat, if I had a choice. Unless a hajib that smelled like a goat meant I would not have to put it on my head.
Posted by: Mummulah | January 05, 2007 at 05:13 PM