I finally made it to Iraq yesterday. However, I’m going to talk about the week of acclimation in Kuwait, mostly because I haven’t had a chance to “discover” the magic of Iraq.

When you fly into Kuwait, it will be after roughly 17 hours of flying. When you leave Camp McCrady, you get to sit in the airport for several hours or longer, as was our case due to the nightly thunderstorms. The local Purple Heart Assocation, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and some other support groups came to the terminal and supplied gifts and refreshments. It was a nice gesture and totally unexpected. > more <

I forgot to mention this incident after we moved from Hawaii to San Diego. As everyone who has flown in the US knows, you have to send your bags through x-ray machines. After 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the federal agency responsible for baggage checks at airports. The TSA screeners are supposed to monitor all passengers and baggage going through the checkpoint, to the point of requiring people to remove their shoes for independent x-raying. > more <