The Rest of Dubai

Dear All,

The rest of my time in Dubai was busy, busy and full of new adventures. We worked all day Sunday and half of Monday at the USO in Dubai. That USO there was nothing I had ever seen before. It is out in the docking area in the bay and is kind of a big open area with all sorts of vendors and fast food places. The USO had a main office building, a phone building, a TV lounge/library building, Kasbar or Internet/Media/Gaming Building and a large laundry facility building. They all kind of open on to a large courtyard area that has a big awning with lots and lots of tables and chairs. When the ship come in they arrange with the USO to have all these things available to them. The ship also connect with a vendor and beer is sold also to the troops. (USO has no part of that)

On a normal time the troops come in and are there for a couple of days for R&R and the troops arrange through the USO tours and things like the sand safari that We went on. The can even arrange hotels if they want to stay in town. Because of Ramadan the city is close for all that. No eating, drinking, smoking,at all from sun up to sundown. Things like live entertainment and all sorts of other stuff are not permitted at all. There was a DJ [laying music and keeping the crowd going. So for this visit the troops were contained within the USO area....so picture 4,000 plus marines (that are heading home from there tour in Iraq) and Navy troops who have been out on these ships for months, all in this area letting their hair down. Of course you can imagine where they all went first. The beer area! By midnight you can just imagine the shape of the majority of the troops. Unbelievable!

We worked long and hard that day and were back at the USO by 8 the next morning. The troops had to be back on the ship by noon. The morning was much, much quieter. Lots doing laundry and buying souvenirs to take home. Many in the phone building. There are 100 cell phones for the troops to use! IT is quite an operation.

We have a little more training that afternoon then that evening were taken out to this wonderful hotel on the bay for a luau. A luau in Dubai....interesting! It was quite fun and fun for all of us to just let our hair done and enjoy. Many of the Dubai staff had their wife and babies and that was fun.

We were back at the hotel by 11 and I enjoyed my nice big bathtub one more time. Oh the things we miss being away from home. The next morning we did not have to be at the airport until 2:30 so we had the morning. There was a mini mall there in the hotel and I found a salon and got my hair cut. That felt great and who know how long it will be before I get that opportunity again.

We got back into Kuwait around 6 in the evening and Angela, myself, Kevin our VP of our region, Charlotte his assistant and Shari another staff personnel went to the PAX terminal to begin working on getting a flight back into Iraq. Angela and I were Space Blocked on a flight first thing in the morning. We were to report at o500. As it goes....we ended up staying there all night. We did go over to the USO for a little bit to do a few things but for the most part we were in the PAX terminal with all the other troops trying to get out. We ended up boarding our C130 at 8 am. IT was a good flight. My name was called before the ones with me so I sat with a unit of troops headed into Iraq for their third tour in since the war. They were so fun and it was a great ride in. I was able to give them phone cards, tell them about the USO and give them Defendersoffreedom.us information. I was able to get just a couple of pictures. They have to be taken very discretely. I am not sure is it is forbidden or permitted so I take with real caution and ask all around if they are okay with me taking it.

Back in Iraq, I knew I have come along way as I felt like I was coming home as I walked into my little room. We were exhausted after days of a busy full schedule and being up all night. We slept a couple hours them met for dinner. I came here to do a little emailing and will head to bed early. Oh by the way...the time here changed while we were gone. We don't know why and many don't even know. It is an hour earlier. I am now 8 hours ahead of you.

I had care packages and cards here in the mail when I got here and that was so fun. Thanks Laurie and Vicki and of course my Johnny, who has had a card for me in the mail almost everyday. I have them on my wall in my room.

I love you all and miss you greatly. This will be a big week getting things narrowed down for where exactly the center will be located here. Hopefully in the next couple of days we can really have a plan of action and maybe even a target date for opening. I can't wait. I the meantime I shake a lot of hands and thank a lot of troops and connect with them with whatever time I have. They are all so amazing and making such huge sacrifices for you and me!

Thank you for your support of our troops and for supporting me in this adventure!
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda