Hello and welcome to my blog. While I am not able to see this blog on my government computer, Amber has been considerate enough to create this blog for me. I am currently serving in Iraq where I fly Army airplanes and serve as our Bn logistical officer. This blog is going to be a way for me to communicate with my family and friends back in the states, although I know that there is a good chance the only person who will read this blog is Amber when she posts it for me. If you ever want to get a hold of me you can email me mikeweipert@hotmail.com or Amber can give you my work email that I check multiple times a day.
The trip over here was extremely difficult. We stayed in a tent in Kuwait for 5 days waiting for a flight up to Iraq. We all were living in 16 man tents on old Army cots just waiting until a flight became available. The Army has a policy that all incoming units get at least 5 days of training and up to 15 days of training for National Guard units. Even thought we had all of our training previously at Fort Hood, we were unable to leave Kuwait until our 5 days waiting time was up. The heat was 125 degrees and the sand in Kuwait is as fine as makeup face powder. These conditions made it unbearable in Kuwait since the sand blew so much there was a fine dust in the air that made visibility only about 100 meters. The air conditioner in our tent was very good and it was freezing cold at night when the outside temperature dropped to 90 degrees, but during the day the tent only cooled down to 110 degrees. I am so happy that I am in Iraq and out of Kuwait.
I have begun to settle into Iraq and this place is the same as when I was here last time. I am in the same room and I work in the same building. My room is pretty large, but I share it with another Captain, so it seems pretty small. We just have to wait for the outgoing unit to get out of our way so that we can get access to the computers and phones in my office. They don’t want to get out of the way so we can take over which I guess I understand.
There is a massive sand storm that blew in last night. It is so bad that I have these killer headaches from breathing in all this dust. We joke around and say that being outside is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. The sand gets everywhere because it is so fine, it even gets through surgical masks. Not through the filter, but around the nose and chin the dust seeps in. Visibility is so bad I would honestly say that you cant see farther than 20 meters. It hurts to breath outside, but as you can see, it is almost as bad inside covered areas like our hangar and in the halls. We usually don’t see more than a couple of these a year, but it has been bad (not this bad though) for the whole week we have been here. I was able to fly twice this week, but the weather was really bad and I thought we wouldn’t be able to land here and have to go down to Qatar to land.
The trip over here was extremely difficult. We stayed in a tent in Kuwait for 5 days waiting for a flight up to Iraq. We all were living in 16 man tents on old Army cots just waiting until a flight became available. The Army has a policy that all incoming units get at least 5 days of training and up to 15 days of training for National Guard units. Even thought we had all of our training previously at Fort Hood, we were unable to leave Kuwait until our 5 days waiting time was up. The heat was 125 degrees and the sand in Kuwait is as fine as makeup face powder. These conditions made it unbearable in Kuwait since the sand blew so much there was a fine dust in the air that made visibility only about 100 meters. The air conditioner in our tent was very good and it was freezing cold at night when the outside temperature dropped to 90 degrees, but during the day the tent only cooled down to 110 degrees. I am so happy that I am in Iraq and out of Kuwait.
I have begun to settle into Iraq and this place is the same as when I was here last time. I am in the same room and I work in the same building. My room is pretty large, but I share it with another Captain, so it seems pretty small. We just have to wait for the outgoing unit to get out of our way so that we can get access to the computers and phones in my office. They don’t want to get out of the way so we can take over which I guess I understand.
There is a massive sand storm that blew in last night. It is so bad that I have these killer headaches from breathing in all this dust. We joke around and say that being outside is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. The sand gets everywhere because it is so fine, it even gets through surgical masks. Not through the filter, but around the nose and chin the dust seeps in. Visibility is so bad I would honestly say that you cant see farther than 20 meters. It hurts to breath outside, but as you can see, it is almost as bad inside covered areas like our hangar and in the halls. We usually don’t see more than a couple of these a year, but it has been bad (not this bad though) for the whole week we have been here. I was able to fly twice this week, but the weather was really bad and I thought we wouldn’t be able to land here and have to go down to Qatar to land.
Quarters in Kuwait
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