So I just want to reiterate here that my experiences during this deployment are going to vary greatly from other soldiers deployed with me. Some readers may know other soldiers deployed with the same Idaho Brigade. Their experience will not be like mine. I would go as far to say that my experience is far from the norm. I got to Kuwait about 7 days early, then my squadron all came and stayed between 5 to 10 days. They all traveled up into Iraq and I along with three others from the squadron, ended up staying an additional 2 weeks after they all left.  So what did I do for those two weeks? I saw a lot of the country!

And now I want to share the country of Kuwait with you. And I can pretty much sum it up with these next few pictures.

This is driving North.

This one is driving South.

Driving East was a pleasant dash of variety.

And when staring down the road became to mundane, we would look out the side windows. 

And sometimes there were traffic signs. 

                                                              

I probably wouldn't have figured out what this red octagon sign meant without out the English. Notice the Arabic script looks like two people sitting in a canoe. 

                                                                                 

Not all signs are as easy to figure out though so luckily the signs are in Arabic and English. 

But even with the English and the Arabic not everybody always understands the meanings of signs.

 

Squadron Coin

LTC Edgar was on the first flight from the brigade out of Kuwait into Iraq. There were just a handful of squadron guys that went up as the advance party to begin inventorying and signing for all the equipment we were taking over from the unit we were replacing. Before the SCO (Squadron Commander) left he presented me with a Squadron coin for excellence. The tradition goes that if you have received a coin you must carry it on you at all times. It becomes part of the uniform. If someone calls coin check and holds up their coin, everyone else must get out their coins also and hold them up. It is bad juju if you’re the guy without his coin. When off duty it can be used to determine who buys drinks for all. But when on duty you just get the guilt trip about how it will be remembered that you don’t appreciate the coin or are not proud to be part of the squadron, and maybe a verbal rain check that you owe drinks. 

 

 Sina Mora is the 2nd Squadron motto and means without delay. The crossed sabers are the symbol for cavalry. The top picture minus the crossed sabers is also the unit crest for 2nd squadron. On the other side of the coin are the red and white colors of the cavalry. You also see a mounted cavalry trooper on his horse. There is also the silver oak leaf which is the rank of LTC the squadron commander and under that is the rank of command sergeant major for the highest ranking Non-commissioned officer in the squadron. 401 in the number of the coin.

What I described above is just one version of the coin tradition. Coins are also generally tied to the rank of the individual who awards them. My coin for example is from a Lieutenant Colonel. Another tradition of coin checks is to see whose coin trumps the other. For example a coin awarded by the brigade commander, who is a “full bird” Colonel (The next higher rank after Lieutenant Colonel), that coin would trump my coin. But then someone could walk up with a Generals coin and trump them both. This could be used to in the same scenario described above with buying drinks, but since I don’t drink, I have never been such scenarios. I just carry mine around so I’m not that guy who doesn’t have it and also because I do appreciate it.

Well April is almost over so I best keep my word and get cracking on this monster looming over my conscience. I had hoped to post once more before I went home on leave, but my internet subscription expired with only a few days left before I flew home. We buy it a month at a time, so I just went without, and therefore the Blog went without. I spent two weeks back together with the family and it was awesome, but I will tell about that in the future. Let us get back to the past, November 2010. 

 So as I mentioned in the Kuwait presentation I went early to prepare for the rest of my squadron to come. Part of that preparation was to conduct much of the training early so that I would be done with it and be free to facilitate the training and fulfill other administrative and support rolls while the main body was tied up with the training. The goal of the advanced party is to have everything prepared and organized for a smooth arrival, execution of training. Our key tasks were to greet the arriving soldiers with a familiar face and begin to orient them to their new environment, have all the elements of life support laid out and prepared so there is a “bunk for every butt” and they know where that is as well as where to eat, go to the restroom, shower, and when and where and in what uniform they need to be in for training. Our squadron would be arriving on multiple planes over the course of a few days. So we made multiple trips to the air port to greet them and then escort the busses to Beuhring. (about 1.5 hour trip) So after almost a week of preparation, the arrival of the main body is kind of like raising the curtains on opening night. Ready or not, it’s show time. 

Here is the first plane full of squadron soldiers. This one had the squadron commander on it so I was able to drive out onto the runway and pick him and his luggage up in the vehicle. The full rock star treatment, he expects it and eats it up. I then briefed him all the way back to Beuhring on all the preparations that were made, taskings and requirements from higher that we had received while he was in transit and laid out the training plan for the next few days. Things went well and he congratulated me on another fine RECON product that prepared everyone for arrival. For the next five days that the commander was there, my schedule revolved around him. One of the preparatory things my advance party had done was to get military licensed to drive in Kuwait. That meant there were only a select few who could drive when these thousands of troops started showing up. Those with the most rank got the cars and the drivers. Luckily there were training requirements that often took precedents over the wants of some to be pampered.

The Squadron Commander Lieutenant Colonel ToddEdgar

At one of the trips to the airport to pick up soldiers, the plain was delayed. So I needed to find my guys lunch while we waited. I heard there was a dining facility, so we set of looking. I found one but it wasn’t the US military one. We wandered onto a Kuwait military portion of the airport complex. The outside had something written in Arabic and then in English was written something like Officer Café. I figured it was a joint Kuwaiti/US dining hall. It wasn’t but when I explained that we were looking for a place to eat lunch they insisted we stay there. They weren’t even open yet, so I respectfully declined in hopes that they would have enough to feed their own guys when they showed up. My guys on the other hand, I encouraged to take advantage of the hospitality and partake in some authentic Kuwait cuisine. Notice the tall skinny Pepsi cans.

The little green cartons are a type of sour milk. Yes, sour on purpose. Don't think of milk gone bad, but more of sour cream in milk form. I had drank some of it in Iraq in 2005 and that was room temperature stuff. This stuff was at least cold. I ended up drinking the one guy's who opened his. The rest of the guys left them shut after they saw his face. Below is the Kuwaiti officer that insisted we eat their food. I entered the building from the back and kind of surprised this guy in his office. He was puffin on the huka pipe in the bottom left. He is holding a unit patch I gave him off my sleeve as a token of thanks.