One of the first things you have to do when you get here is get your Kuwait drivers license. It's good to have one so you can drive the office vehicles around the camp and so you can pick people up from the airport. I had to go to a class where they taught about Kuwaiti driving habits and the various road signs that this country uses. Everything is pretty similar to America and all the signs would make sense to anyone trying to drive here. During the class, they warned of different things you will see the locals doing while driving outside the "wire".
Excessive speeding
Tailgating
Road rage
Passing on the right
Passing on the shoulder
Driving the wrong way
Hopping the median to go the other direction
Reversing on the shoulder
Driving without headlights
Stop signs are considered optional
No different than driving around Atlanta...got it.
So, I pass the test and receive my license. When I get to work that day my NCO tells me we are going on a driving mission to the Airport to pick up an officer from our Atlanta office who is stopping through before she goes and checks on our office in Qatar. We were to leave at about 1930 that night. He wanted to bring me so I could become familiar with the route to the Airport. After work that night I went to the DFAC real quick to grab some dinner and went right back to the office so we could get on our way.
No one is allowed to leave without a reason, so earlier we had to get a memo signed by our senior officer saying we had to pick up someone from the airport (that was our ticket to get out). We are also not allowed to wear our ACU tops while driving around outside the camp. That way people can't immediately see that we are American soldiers. Wouldn't want to get kidnapped or anything! We go through the many security checkpoints we have here until we finally reach the outside world.
As we were approaching the main highway to the airport a pickup with no headlights on blows past us going at least 80mph, hops the median and drives the wrong way down the other side of the highway and off into the distance. "That driving class wasn't wrong", I thought to myself as we exited onto the main highway. Over the course of the next 20 minutes I managed to see ALL of the things they warned about in the class. Driving out here is like playing Russian Roulette, it's not if you get in an accident, it's when. When there are accidents the cars are just left. So, every few miles you will see a wreck just sitting there. Like a shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean. Undisturbed and you have to ask yourself if there's people still in there! Another interesting habit, is the act of slamming on your breaks, taking a sharp turn and driving off road into the desert. People would just fly off the highway and keep the same speed while they cruised around brush and over hills into the horizon. The opposite was also true, you would be driving along and a car or truck would all of a sudden fly onto the highway from out of nowhere. I guess people here like to make their own exits. So, somehow, we made it to the airport and waited for the flight to land. Everything was on time and we picked up who we were waiting for and navigated the roads back "home". What was funny was how used to the driving my NCO and officer were. People would blow by us doing 100 and they wouldn't even flinch. Or someone would just go around us on the right hand side (on the shoulder) and my boss's wouldn't even acknowledge. Thank goodness the mission went off without a hitch. I was told the next time we have to go to the airport that I will be driving. Wish me luck!
Because a lot of the day to day things I do really can't be blogged about, I'm going to have to get creative with my writings. I thought it would be fun to try to answer any questions anyone has. Please, comment any questions and I will try to answer them the best way possible. If you don't see your comment right away, it's because I have it set up to where I have to approve the comments. There's a lot of idiots out there who like to post negative things on deployment blogs, so I thought I would nip that in the bud now. You should see your comment within 24 hours of making it and my next blog will be answers. Have a great day everybody.
Excessive speeding
Tailgating
Road rage
Passing on the right
Passing on the shoulder
Driving the wrong way
Hopping the median to go the other direction
Reversing on the shoulder
Driving without headlights
Stop signs are considered optional
No different than driving around Atlanta...got it.
So, I pass the test and receive my license. When I get to work that day my NCO tells me we are going on a driving mission to the Airport to pick up an officer from our Atlanta office who is stopping through before she goes and checks on our office in Qatar. We were to leave at about 1930 that night. He wanted to bring me so I could become familiar with the route to the Airport. After work that night I went to the DFAC real quick to grab some dinner and went right back to the office so we could get on our way.
No one is allowed to leave without a reason, so earlier we had to get a memo signed by our senior officer saying we had to pick up someone from the airport (that was our ticket to get out). We are also not allowed to wear our ACU tops while driving around outside the camp. That way people can't immediately see that we are American soldiers. Wouldn't want to get kidnapped or anything! We go through the many security checkpoints we have here until we finally reach the outside world.
As we were approaching the main highway to the airport a pickup with no headlights on blows past us going at least 80mph, hops the median and drives the wrong way down the other side of the highway and off into the distance. "That driving class wasn't wrong", I thought to myself as we exited onto the main highway. Over the course of the next 20 minutes I managed to see ALL of the things they warned about in the class. Driving out here is like playing Russian Roulette, it's not if you get in an accident, it's when. When there are accidents the cars are just left. So, every few miles you will see a wreck just sitting there. Like a shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean. Undisturbed and you have to ask yourself if there's people still in there! Another interesting habit, is the act of slamming on your breaks, taking a sharp turn and driving off road into the desert. People would just fly off the highway and keep the same speed while they cruised around brush and over hills into the horizon. The opposite was also true, you would be driving along and a car or truck would all of a sudden fly onto the highway from out of nowhere. I guess people here like to make their own exits. So, somehow, we made it to the airport and waited for the flight to land. Everything was on time and we picked up who we were waiting for and navigated the roads back "home". What was funny was how used to the driving my NCO and officer were. People would blow by us doing 100 and they wouldn't even flinch. Or someone would just go around us on the right hand side (on the shoulder) and my boss's wouldn't even acknowledge. Thank goodness the mission went off without a hitch. I was told the next time we have to go to the airport that I will be driving. Wish me luck!
Because a lot of the day to day things I do really can't be blogged about, I'm going to have to get creative with my writings. I thought it would be fun to try to answer any questions anyone has. Please, comment any questions and I will try to answer them the best way possible. If you don't see your comment right away, it's because I have it set up to where I have to approve the comments. There's a lot of idiots out there who like to post negative things on deployment blogs, so I thought I would nip that in the bud now. You should see your comment within 24 hours of making it and my next blog will be answers. Have a great day everybody.
3 comments:
Curious on what type of amenities you have available to you? Can you describe your typical meals? Are you able to go out into the nearest city at all or just airport runs because of the safety issue?
How far away is the bathroom/shower?
--dad
How far away is the bathroom/shower?
--dad
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