At the end of May, 2003 we arrived in Kuwait. Leaving Saint Louis I looked at the arch for as long as I could knowing that it would be a long timeefore I would see the familiar landmark again.
Our stay in Kuwait was certainly not a pleasant one. We had to wait there for our equipment and vehicles to arrive by ship. The dusty and above 100F environment was enough to make one wish to go to Baghdad where the climate was supposedly better. It certainly was hot enough outside to fry an egg if one cracked it open on the ground. Even though we lived on base, we had some contact with the locals, but we mostly had interaction with the immigrant workforce from SE Asia.
Supposedly, half if not more than half of the Kuwaiti population comprised of immigrant workforce from countries like Nepal, Phillipines, Malaysia etc.. Many such laborers came to our site as cleaners, laundry washers, food servers and other manual type work.
Personally, it was quite a surprise to see so many far eastern faces, and I'm sure many of them were just as surprised to see me in uniform as not many Asians are in the US army.
The 1138th Engineer Battalion that I am part of is usually involved in
construction type tasks such as roadways, bridges and civil engineering
duties. When we were activated one year ago in March, we were under the
impression were would be given a similar mission to what we usually train
for.
However, midway through our training we were told we would be given a
new mission. The MEOICC, Mine Explosive Ordinance Information Coordination
Center is a new concept which would keep track of landmines, bombs,
unexploded ordinance (UXOs) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in a
database to assist in military/civilian movement and minimize casualties.
About 10 of us including myself went to the east coast to receive GIS
Geographic Information System training. The map learning exercises we went
through has proven to be very useful.
This is all for now.. a few explosions just went off.. Will make
sure it is safe... and talk to all you later. Thanks.
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