Greetings from the Middle East!

Well, so far the trip has been ok. It was very long. After a week of training in Georgia, we left for Kuwait. That trip took 41 hours from barracks to tent. We spent a few days doing more training in Kuwait,then left for Iraq. We arrived in Baghdad a few hours later and moved into temporary billets. Tent city in Kuwait

Inside the tent

Now we have switched to what we'll be staying in. It is pretty nice, especially for a war zone. I have a room with an attached shower and bathroom and one roommate. He is a general surgeon and seems like a pretty good guy, though he is leaving and getting replaced in the next month or so. It is very hot and dusty. So far we've topped out at a little over 120. Not much fun to be out in, I must say. At night it is pretty reasonable though. We are doing detainee ops as our mission, with about 15% American. So far the ones I have met seem ok. The vast majority of them are guys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, though we do have a few who are bad guys. One of my current patients blew himselfup trying to plant a roadside bomb, then tried to resist the troops who came to arrest him and got shot. He's going to make it though.

Loading the plane to fly to Iraq

The food is good. I have no complaints yet, though I have been told the menu has little variety and you get tired of it after awhile. I will have to wait and see. I hope you are all doing well!

Coffee kiosk at Camp Cropper