Yesterday we checked out of Ali Al Salem and drove to Buehring Camp, which is the closest U.S. military base to Iraq. Talk about desolate!! Nothing but flat land and sand as far as the eye can see. It is amazing. We even saw a few dead camels by the side of the road. Heck, if camels can’t even survive out here what hope is there for the rest of us?! Haha The base was as nice as they could make it being in the middle of nowhere in a desert, but it was far from nice. There were a lot of very young soldiers here doing their training. They had a very nice, little theater we performed in. It is the same place they use for showing movies. It seemed like a bit of a tough audience since they were so young. They didn’t even know some of the people Jason was impersonating I think. However, at the end they gave us a standing ovation so I guess we did ok. After the show we drove to Camp Arifjan. It was a scary ride. The freeway here is pretty crazy. And the security team that is driving us around are treating us like we’re the president or something. Whenever we travel there are 3 SUVs that go as a convoy. They split us up so that 2 of us are in two cars, then another vehicle follows up in the rear. The thing that is scary though is that they drive so close together it is like we are in the Daytona 500. Seriously! They were driving between 70 – 80 miles an hour with literally only 10 to 30 feet distance between the vehicles. I guess they do that to keep people from cutting into the convoy. At one point there was a car that cut in and broke up the convoy. You look over and it is a guy in all white robes with a beard and turban and such, so they don’t know if it’s a good guy or a bad guy. So they race like heck to try and force him out and get back in the convoy. Honestly, I felt safer on the helicopter in Afghanistan getting shot at by insurgents! Haha. I guess it’s their job though and they do it well. They are very concerned about security here. In Afghanistan nothing goes out alone, everything is in at least twos; planes, helicopters, convoys, etc. I guess they are responsible for our safety, but it seems a little over the top, especially since we are in Kuwait, which is overall pretty safe. Two shows tomorrow.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 06:16:11 +0000