Cheese with That

The two things I have been whining about the most since I arrived at Camp Virginia are:

1. The ridiculously slow, stupid, sluggish, imprudent, lackadaisical, laissez-faire, slapdash, sloppy Internet service; and

2. That the DFac closes in the morning at 08:00, which is way too early.

Yesterday they posted a sign that the DFac would now be open for breakfast until 09:00!!! Yay!!!!

Regarding No. 1: Justin, Jose and Chris -- Plane tickets are waiting for you at LAX. Please take the flight to Dulles; hang out at the USO in Dulles for a few hours, then take the flight to KWI. From KWI take the shuttle to Ali Al Salem/LSA and from LSA ride a camel to Camp Virginia. We need you so badly. I need you NOW!

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Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I got to the DFac at 08:10 this morning. They are open until 09:00 today only because we had an air-raid drill. GOSHDARNIT!

On the Eve of All Hallows Eve

Preparation for Halloween has begun. The USO is planning to distribute pumpkin trick-or-treat bags filled with snacks and candies (thank you Laura, Karen and KY&L), Peeps (thank you Alexis) and other delicious or disgusting treats inside. We are co-sponsoring an evening dress-up 5K Walk/Run (you must wear a costume to win) and the creepiest ever Haunted House. The Troop Medical Center has so many gory plans that I am steering clear of them until after Halloween is over.

We began to build the Haunted House last night. You may recognize the dead-body-builders, tombstone-layers and spider-web-makers as some of the highest ranking soldiers at Camp Virginia. As developments progress I’ll keep you ghosted – I mean, posted. (Sorry.)

Every day we hear heartbreaking stories out of Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We hope these diversions help the troops so that they can more easily adjust and properly perform their duties. We so very much appreciate your continuing support.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

The temperatures have been going down, probably to the low 90s, unfortunately passing the humidity level as it heads way up. I know y'all from Ft. Hood, New York and Flawiduh are used to this, but in my world it's disgusting. Of course, I never sweat, but I have been doing a great deal of glistening. When I open my door in the morning the outside is soaking wet. There's fog on my glasses and on the roads. It's not the Grapevine, but dense enough where four of our U.S. Postal workers were run off the highway in a bad accident a couple of days ago. They were saved from tradgedy because they were all wearing seat belts.

Last night, finally, it rained a little. For about two hours the drops came down hard and there was a lot of lightening and thunder; just enough to make lots of mud. Lynn rushed outside to check out the rain. I guess she's never seen it before.

Halfway to Home - or - They Came for Me

On 14 October 2009 the 960th Brigade Support Battalion, Camp Command Cell, had a celebration to commemorate the halfway mark in their deployment. The USO provided two huge, beautiful and delicious cakes and the 960th provided accolades, plaques, proclamations and people. A few minutes after the start of the event the Command Sargent Major called me over to express her concern about fitting everyone in the space we had provided. I'm thinking, "Good grief lady. You're in charge of all of Camp Virginia and you can't figure out that there is plenty of room here." While I was still discussing the situation with her she made an announcement, calling her troops together for the festivities. Turns out she had brought me over so she could present me with a lovely birthday cake. It was a little embarassing, but I was very relieved to realize that the CSM was completely competent and would continue to direct Camp Virginia without my assistance. And yes people, she really is that pretty.

Games People Play

Before I left on leave, we took inventory of our game situation and decided that our USO Center was in dire need of a board game extreme makeover. I put out one e-mail to Keesal, Young & Logan. I returned to Camp Virginia with scores of new games, including Monopoly, Battleship, Yahtzee, puzzles, checkers, chess, Trivial Pursuit, dominoes, Sorry, and many, many more. (See before and after pictures of our game shelves.) We even have a few set aside for later. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the employees of KY&L for your continuous, continuing and wonderful support.

Treats for Our Troops

On Wednesday, 21 October, Scott and I delivered Treats for the Troops to the permanent parties on base. The sacks contained everything we thought would go in an elementary school lunch. I thought we should include fruit or carrots or something “healthy,” but Steve decided on “junk” food. Contained in the sacks were PB&J sandwiches (creamy or crunchy; grape or strawberry), juice boxes (10% juice), individual serving bags of chips, Skittles, and Rice Krispy treats or cookies. I don't know why we didn't take pictures of us making 200 PB&J sandwiches. We had an assembly line going for two hours, and it was really fun. I hope the troops enjoyed eating their treats as much as we enjoyed making and delivering them.

BTW: We looked everywhere for paper sacks, but were unable to find any.

Sunday Funnies

On Sunday, 18 October 2009, the USOs in Kuwait were visited by members of the National Cartoonists' Society, including Army Cartoonist Bruce Higdon, Editorial Cartoonist, Chip Bock, Jeff Bacon of the Army Times and Navy Times, Jeff Keane (Family Circus) and Tom Richmond from Mad Magazine. After receiving plaques and thanks from the Base Command, all of the cartoonists sat down for over two hours to draw caricatures of our troops. Of course the soldiers were delighted, but the artists too were having a ball. They chatted and laughed with everyone as they worked. In addition to accurately capturing faces, the sketches also depicted something particularly personal for each subject. The drawings were just amazing.

I was astounded by Tom Richmond from Mad Magazine; every sketch looked exactly like the person. Later in the afternoon we asked the illustrators if one of them would illustrate something for our UTR program. Tom drew this picture of Sgt. R as the father reading to his son. Sgt. R was long gone, back at work for over an hour, when Tom Richmond drew his face and body perfectly from memory. (See photograph of Sgt. R with his own drawing and then the UTR sketch.) The picture takes my breath away.

We are so grateful that these extraordinarily talented men are willing to share their gifts with us and support our troops.

IHoP Part Deux

Since our first pancake breakfast for the Army birthday in April was such a huge success we decided to immediately have another one. On Saturday, 17 October we served apple spice, blueberries 'n cream and plain flapjacks to approximately 100 troops. Volunteers Chris and Grace were flipping at warp speed, but even they could not keep up with the crowds. For the next pancake breakfast we'll get more grills, hotter grills and larger grills. I saw eyes rolling with delight and lips a-licken' after the troops added toppings of butter, syrup and whipped cream. Everyone in attendance had a great time.

Volunteers Shae and Phil did most the dirty work, but cleaning up huge bowls of dried batter and burnt up grills without the benefit of running water or a sink -- not so much fun.

We are delighted and proud to serve our troops. Literally.

[Pictures to follow]

Dis 'n Dat and Clean It!!**

On Friday, October 16th, our new Duty Managers, Kaewan and Scott arrived. They both seem very nice and we are thrilled to have them on board. It’s been a long time coming, but finally we are FULLY STAFFED!!!!!

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Pinkberry has arrived at the Avenues Mall. Although there were 6 people working behind the counter, the line was out the door and into the hall. Next time.

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One guy on my pad got a new dish for his TV. He thinks that because it’s so huge it will look like he gets American TV stations and his dish will be a chick magnet. I’ve seen the dish and I’m thinking that the only things it will attract are Martians.

-o0o-

We closed the USO for 6 hours yesterday and had a cleaning day. We do straighten up all of the time and we have someone come in to clean every day, but some places had 15 months of worth of dust. We had fun and now the USO smells really good.

**When Leorit was about 3 years old we set up fingerpaints for her to play with. She took one look at the colors all over the table and at the top of her lungs yelled, "CLEAN IT!!! CLEAN IT!!!" So much for artistic expression in my older child.

Happy Birthday in the Navy

We had a totally fun event in honor of the Navy's 234th birthday, eating cake and making 550 parachute cord bracelets. Parachute/550 cord, is a lightweight rope originally used in the suspension lines of US parachutes during World War II. It is now used as a general purpose utility cord. In addition to utility functions, paracord now comes in hundreds of colors and can be used to fashion knotted or braided bracelets, lanyards, belts, and other decorative items. 550 Cord is used by many US military members as a bracelet signifying deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility, typically countries in the Middle East. It is also worn in remembrance of POW/MIA service members during National conflict.

I was taught how to make bracelets weeks ago, but since I did not practice I totally forgot how to do it. Luckily volunteer Phil showed up and gave us instructions. Major K, who was in camp for just a few days, just happened to ask that day if we had cord to make bracelets. Timing is everything. She was able to lead the whole group in crafts. We thought the event would last for about 60 minutes, but people were braiding bracelets and key chains for over 2-1/2 hours.

You may be asking, “Why are there so many Navy people at Camp Virginia in the middle of the desert?” Well, I have one question; you tell me: “Why are there so many Navy people at Camp Virginia in the middle of the desert?”

BTW: Navy embedded with Army is (not) affectionately known as "Narmy."

Home to Here

The last days of my visit were relatively uneventful. I got to shop at Target with a birthday gift card from Lori M. and JoAnne H. Didn't get to Nordstrom's. I remembered why I do not miss Los Angeles area traffic.

Flights back to Camp Virginia were uneventful. At LAX I chatted with Joy and Harry, a retired couple who spend their time traveling and with Chris and Lori. Chris is active-duty Army and really likes the USO.

I hung out at the Dulles Airport USO with about 10 active duty service members and volunteer Cindy. The USO was preparing for their weekly “Honor Visit.” Apparently veterans are given free trips to Washington DC to see all of the memorials. There was some commotion about bringing oxygen tanks to their buses, so I’m guessing these were military during WWII. The USO at Dulles has a display on their wall with coins given to them by their visitors. I think we should get one of these at our USO at Camp Virginia.

I made it back to Kuwait about 30 minutes early; safe and sound and well before midnight. My room has a thick layer of dust/sand, but no matter. Covering the day shift starting at 08:00 tomorrow. It's good to be home.

The House is Open

My open house was a ton of fun. I cannot thank Beverly, Pam and Annabelle enough for hosting with/for me. They scrubbed and cleaned, set up, washed, organized, made coffee, got cakes, filled platters, sorted plates, etc., etc., etc. I am so blessed to have you as my wonderful friends. Thank you.

It was nice to see everyone, although unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone. I did get to visit with former neighbors Kerry O’Keefe Mason and Kevin O’Keefe who I hadn’t seen in almost 40 years, Marina M. and daughter Natalia who drove in from Tucson just for the weekend and Renee P., who I’m in continuous contact with but have not actually seen in 5 years. (I didn't recognize her when she walked in the house. Oy!)

Thank you for coming to my family and my friends from work, WW, USO, Friday night cool people, etc. I miss you and really appreciate you stopping by. I just wish you'd eaten more food.