Kuwait: Camp Virginia

We departed Fort McCrady late on Thursday evening. Our flight would take us from Colubmia Airport to JFK to Hahn, Germany and from there to Kuwait. Originally our stay in Kuwait was going to be a short one consisting us staying just Saturday and flying to Qatar for an overnight stay on Sunday and then to Djibouti on Monday. However due to many planes being grounded at this point and time and a lurking sand storm on the horizon our stay was delayed by a day. Instead we depart Kuwait on Monday for an arrival in Qatar that day. From there however we have no idea how long of a stay will be required before we report to Djibouti as anticipated.

Certain people will be designated as shooters in which they will be armed out and attached to a single vehicle, if the convoy comes under attack these are the select handful of people that will protect the convoy. So keep in mind that you may be designated as a shooter.

The flight from stateside to Kuwait was rather boring. However there was no short abundance of food given to us. The Army provided us with there own meal which was mediocre at best. Shortly before we landed a crew would feed us and as soon as they were relieved they would feed us once more. The flight crew showed various movies and tv shows to provide us with entertainment other than sleeping.

We arrived about 2300 on February 29th and were bused under armored escort to Camp Virgina. It’s an interesting place mingling with the locals and seeing how they view us and vice versa. For those who have never been here the vendors and shops deal in American currency. They vendors will be willing to barter however with the shopettes you will pay sticker prices. Everything is tax free and ATM’s are available. You can also get Kuwaiti Denars from the ATM. Check online for the exchange rate between the two currencies.

We are sleeping in 12 cot wall tents(and yes there is air conditioning). The food and service here has been the best I have experiences yet in the military. There is a shortage of activities to do. A local USO provides entertainment in the form of slow internet, video games, movies and a library. There are a couple of phone centers and internet labs as well as a movie theater which shows movies on DVD.

There might be more to Camp Virginia than I am aware of and please do bear in mind that my stay here was only two days at the most so I do not have a full assessment of the camp.