Dale's Tales

Tales from Kuwait: 

And it certainly is hot!  Today's temperature in Kuwait City was 110 degrees and since we're 5-7 degrees warmer inland - you can imagine the baking you get from being outside.  Fortunately, my job doesn't demand that I be outside that often so I'm not affected too much, but my heart goes out to all those who have to wear body armor and go out on patrols in this type of heat.

Since I last wrote, I have had a couple of interesting things happen.  First, we had one of the wildest nights that I can ever remember about two weeks ago.  It was about 2 in the morning when the fire alarm went off.  I got up, threw enough clothes on to go outside and wait for the all clear signal.  As I left my room, I could see what I thought was smoke and when I got down to the end of the hallway, the area near the bathrooms was hidden by it.  This made me move much more quickly toward the exit. 

When I got outside into what I thought would be a more calm situation (no smoke and no fire alarm noise), I realized that I was very wrong.  The wind was howling and the dust was blowing as if it was a blizzard.  As I sought some protection from the blowing dust and sand, it slowly dawned on me that, perhaps, the smoke I had seen was not smoke after all. 

Before I could complete my thought, it started to rain.  Big, fat drops of rain started pelting all of us turning the dust that was on us into mud.  Fortunately, we only had to endure about 10 minutes of this as the fire alarm stopped and we were allowed back inside.  It was indeed the dust that had set off the fire alarm and caused all the "smoke" I had seen.  I just fell back into bed, hair still very gritty from all the sand, since the next afternoon I was doing my laundry anyway.

The second event involved actually going down to a local Kuwaiti businessman's house for an evening of food and fellowship.  There is a name for this type of event which I, unfortunately, cannot remember.  It is an event that traditionally is a male only event - more on that later.  I was invited by the deputy commander of our unit who had been in Kuwait on a previous deployment and had extensive dealings with our host. 

In this part of the world, in particular, the need to mix business with social gatherings is important.  Social slights are far more magnified than back in the states.  Therefore, it is very welcomed when an outsider is engaged with the culture and very noticed when another outsider stays separated from the festivities. 

Our host, TJ, which is the nickname he allows the Americans to use, (he spent 13 years in the states as a student and businessman) is an extremely engaging man.  He not only told excellent stories, but he delighted in explaining the different aspects of Kuwaiti culture as the subjects arose.  TJ owns a stevedoring business which means he owns the means of offloading and loading ships which come into the ports in Kuwait.  My deputy commander tells me that, unlike many other business owners in the country, TJ's use of contract labor from other countries is such that many of these workers sign up over and over to continue working for him.

That certainly came across during the evening.  We were welcomed warmly and had excellent conversation.  The room we went into first was very large with benches all along the wall where everyone sat.  The middle of the floor had a couple of tables, but no one used them.  The floor was marble and the ceiling had a rotunda.  It was "wow" without being gaudy.  When we entered the room, we went around to each person there and shook hands.  There were about 20 Kuwaiti's and an equal number of Americans.  One of the Kuwaiti's asked me which state I was from and I told him "New Hampshire, one of the smaller ones".  He agreed and made a joke about how big Texas was in relation to NH.  It took me a second to realize that, just because this person wasn't an American, he could understand things about America.  I'm glad that realization came over a joke and it allowed me to be more aware that I was dealing with people who were quite sharp minded.

After having some juice (excellent) and tea (yes, I had tea - at least a little bit - it actually wasn't too bad) we went downstairs to what would be best described as a very large family room.  Again, there were benches along the wall for most of the room.  There were also tables set up with an amazing buffet on them.  The two large TVs were showing a soccer game which many of the Kuwaitis were very interested in.  Here we took our shoes off (I don't know why we didn't upstairs) and before long we were going through the buffet line.  The food was extremely varied and despite the lateness of the hour (about 10PM) I filled my plate up.  I stayed away from any of the American foods (they had French Fries and a couple of other things for those folks who aren't adventurous) and was encouraged by one of the Kuwaitis to try some humus.  I was very skeptical because I have tried it a couple of times back home and didn't care for it too much, but it would have been very impolite to decline his suggestion.  It turned out to be very good.  TJ explained that the stuff in America is canned and canned anything isn't as good as when it is freshly made.

In addition, there were numerous kabobs, meat wrapped in grape leaves, rice, fruit and at the end of the line, lamb.  Now this wasn't your normally prepared lamb.  The lamb was in a very large round roasting pan with rice and other vegetables.  Now, when I say the lamb was in the pan, I mean the entire lamb was in there.  To prove it, the head was also there.  TJ explained that it was customary to leave the head on in order to prove to your guests that they were indeed eating lamb.  No matter, the food was wonderful.

While we were eating, TJ could tell that I wasn't turned off by the different food and I explained that much of what he had was very similar to the Greek cooking I enjoyed.  That allowed him to launch into a very interesting discussion of the various foods and he definitely enjoyed being able to relate what he had to what I was used to from my heritage.

TJ, the deputy commander, a few others and I were sitting at the one table in the room that wasn't being used for food.  It was actually a card table covered over.  Later, after we left, the cover would come off and the men would play cards.  Unfortunately we couldn't join them, not because we were not allowed to, but this event would last until 2AM and we needed to be back on post much earlier than that.  TJ sat next to another Kuwaiti who also spoke excellent English and the conversation was most interesting.  The talk was of family, business and life in general.  It showed that, by and large, people are people no matter where they are in this world.  Probably the most unusual piece of information I learned was that there was very good fishing in the Persian Gulf.  One of the other US officers who worked with one of our port units had some photos and it turns out that barracuda, grouper and other fish can be caught right off the pier. 

There were two other interesting items that I found out that evening.  This event had always been a male only affair.  There were absolutely no Kuwaiti women there.  However, there were a couple of American military women in attendance.  This was unfortunate - and I say this without trying to be insulting - since in this culture, women do not socialize with the men.  Since we had women there, the Kuwaitis were not as comfortable as they could have been.  We can pooh-pooh their attitude, but I can also understand the desire of a bunch of men wanting to gather and not worry about having women around.  And this doesn't mean that there was going to be "bad" things happening if the women weren't there.  This was simply a social gathering - no booze, no women to be brought in - just an opportunity for male fellowship.  During the last year I have had the opportunity to be part of a men's fraternity at a local church and I have realized how much I have missed being part of a group of guys.  There is a camaraderie that is formed in groups like this which we, in modern America, are very lacking in. 

The second item of interest I found out on the way back to post.  Most all of the Kuwaitis at the event had gone through the occupation during the first Gulf war.  Most of them lost everything and a lot of them suffered in the torture chambers our ol' buddy Saddam had installed after he took over.  An American getting an invitation to an event like this elsewhere in the Mid East is probably not to be expected, but these folks are most indebted to us and they not only know it but acknowledge it gratefully.  This attitude made me even more confident that we are doing what needs to be done and should be done.

I guess I better bring my thesis paper to a close.  A few of you were mentioning that you hadn't heard from me in a while....be careful of what you wish for!

Cordially,

Dale

PS.  I just passed my 2/3 point.  I'll be home in less than 56 days - but who's counting anyway?