Well, I made it to Saudi, and just wanted everyone to know.
Now I know what hell feels like
Hi pipefitter, That’s funny. I always thought Charleston, SC was hell. Maybe that was just the door knob. Did you remember the OFF? Oh, and don’t forget to drink lots and lots of water. Don’t you go falling in love with anyone over there now, you hear?
Yeah, yeah. Cry me a river pipefitter.
At least you have beer, pools and A/C which still works if Persian Gulf water temperature exceeds 85 degrees!
C’mon out here and share my pain on the IKE.
BTW, Jebel Ali 24-29 June/15-20 July. Wanna buy me a beer?
I was stationed in the Suadi desert for 6 months during the Persian Gulf thing. Let me tell you, I have never been so cold in all my life as the first two months I was there (December and January). Try 12-hour shifts of guard duty in a foxhole in the middle of nowhere. Ice formed on the sandbags, and I lost all feeling in my feet after the first hour. Heavy winds, frequent rain; I tell you, it was miserable.
And then it got hot. And I didn’t even get to experience the real hot months past June. GP large tents don’t have air-conditioning you know. And except for the times when our MASH was up and running, we could rarely get ice for personal use. So, I spent a lot of time laying on my cot in the stifling heat trying to take advantage of at least the shade, sweating rivers, drinking hot diet Pepsi, and fending off the flies.
You ever see a horse just sit there and let flies crawl all over its head and around the eyes and wonder why it doesn’t just shake them off? Well, I’ll tell you; you just don’t have the energy. It came to the point when I didn’t care about the flies landing and crawling on me.
Back to the cold thing. When I was packing for our deployment, I came this close to not taking my field jacket to save room. “Hey, it’s the Saudi desert; who needs a heavy coat?” I threw it in at the last second. I thanked God every day I was there for not making me a complete idiot.
divemaster, been there. done it. what an experience eh? US Infantry, 10th Mountain ID. my unit got the fortunate duty of being stationed at the canal. holy mother of mothers but did you ever get to see the teeth on some of those women who lift up their veils just to get some cigarettes? yowsas. very pretty eyes though.
soulsling
What amazed me was how so very pretty the little Saudi girls were. I didn’t get to civilization much, but when I did, I saw lots of little ones dressed up in beautiful, intricately smocked dresses.
Then something happens. I’m not sure what age they have to go into hiding with the black robes and veils, but once they do it’s like someone whupped them with the proverbial ugly stick. Fat and slovenly.
It appears that no one has good teeth over there. You could probably make a killing as a dentist if you could market yourself well. Who knows? Maybe they find crooked, brown, or missing teeth attractive.
I just can’t believe I missed this thread! Forgive me, my dear buddy. Please? I’m so glad to hear that you’re doing well over there, and not suffering from the heat too much. Being extra slim must help that, I guess! 
It was great to talk to you today, and hear your voice from the other side of the world. Yell a hi to Mr Bear, wouldja? You’re practically in shouting distance of each other there! 
Take care, buddy, and don’t forget to send me an email now and then, and let me know that you’re still alive and kicking!
divemaster and soulsling, thank you so much for that image! Now I can stop worrying about Mr Bear finding someone prettier and slimmer than me while he’s there!
Hey Girlbysea, you’re from Charelston? I love that place. My friend has 2 houses down in Isle of Palms and I go there a lot. Really, nice city. Probably my favorite.
Well, are you at least by a beach?
And I was complaining about the rain. My kid is probably complaining about the weather in Great Lakes about now, I’ll have to remind him about how much worse it can get!!!
HomeSlice… NO, I’m not from there. You are right though. It is a nice city. The people are wonderful and it is beautiful. The weather was what I was talking about. Also those FIRE ANT’S… They really liked me!!! We were stationed down there a couple of times. I must say, the last time I saw interstate 26 I was a happy girl. One bit of luck I did have though. We left right before the hurricane Hugo…
Oh, HI pipefitter… Hope you are doing well. Weather here just beautiful. ooops… sorry