He's in Kuwait

So, like I said in the last post, Kelly left Georgia on Friday, July 10. From there he flew to Canada, Iceland and Germany before touching down in Kuwait. I think he said it was like 27 hours or something, most of them in the air! He called yesterday, 7/11 at about 3pm or so. The girls and I had gone to Turkey Rama with a friend thinking if he called it would be later in the evening (when it was morning in Kuwait). But no, he called at 1am his time! Apparently they got there at like 10pm and after getting "settled" he went to find the phones and found a two hour wait! Lucky for him rank has priviledges so he went to their "TOC" (tactical operations center) where he found a phone that was less in demand. They are limited to 20 minute calls though. Anyway, he called back this morning at 7am while I was in the shower. I had taken the phone in the bathroom with me hoping he might call after I got out of the shower or something but no, he called right when I was totally soapy, had conditioner in my hair and had just put soap on my face. The phone rings and I know it has to be him so I try to reach around the shower wall to the counter on the other side of the shower, lose my balance, fall out of the shower onto the floor taking the shower curtain with me! When I told him what had happened he did call back a few minutes later when I had a chance to replace the curtain and rinse off!

He told me that when they arrived in Kuwait the "advanced party" people were still there! They left Georgia on about the 15th of June and were supposed to go ahead to Iraq to have everything set up for the "main body". Apparently the Marines who run the base where they will be are still trying to get ready for them and so now their whole Brigade will end up in Kuwait. I don't know if they will all go to Iraq at the same time or if they will stagger them (most likely). Also, Kelly did get bumped from the cargo plane he was hoping to fly on because they had issues with the weight of the load. He flew on the regular flight with all the "joes"(as he calls them).
When the people on the cargo flight got there he found out that they had to layover in Italy and the layover was so long that they had to get rooms and some people didn't have money, etc., so he was glad he didn't fly with them.

The temperature in Kuwait is a lovely 108 - 110. He said it's like turning on the blowdryer on "hot" and blowing it in your face. Fun times!