Kuwait, Saturday 1995-10-28 08:45 local (Z+3)
Just a quick note while winding down. We landed here just after sun up after a 6.5 hour flight from Paris. Our total ground time will be about 13 hours, just enough to sleep really after you take away the time to get to and from the hotel, clear customs, etc. We brought in 400 U.S. troops and will take out the same number. It's obviously a troop rotation. The ones we brought in didn't look real happy, but I'll bet the ones we're taking out will be glad to be leaving.
On my only other trip here, we didn't get off the airport, so it was interesting to see a bit of the place on the ride in to the hotel. Save for one building with a few holes, I didn't see any evidence of war damage, and everything looks freshly painted. There are a few buildings where you can see where they've patched things and the patching material doesn't quite match the original.
The hotel is on the waterfront. It's tempting to cross the road and take a quick dip in the Persian Gulf for old time's sake. C.J. and I lived on the Gulf about 200 miles south of here. But I need the sleep more than I need the deja vu. For some reason I was having an off day on the way here. I kept missing radio calls, couldn't find a couple of fixes on the map—embarrassing.
Unfortunately I'm in a fly during the night, sleep during the day schedule. Our return will be during the night. Then my next leg—to Delhi then Bombay—will be the next night. When I sleep all day I start feeling like I start suffering from “light deprivation”, or something like that.
Okay, off to bed. I've got 8 hours and 10 minutes until the wake up call...Terry