Welcome to COB Speicher

What an incredibly bumpy ride from Kuwait to Tikrit. We were making 90 degree maneuvers from left and right and 10 minutes to landing the plane made a sudden drop to avoid potential enemy fire. All I remember is me and everyone else levitating for a good 3 seconds! Thank goodness I wore my seatbelt or I would have been glued to the ceiling! The pictures shown above are of us waiting for the bus ride to the hospital.

Farewell to New Friends

The 47th Combat Support Hospital supports three locations in Iraq: Mosul, Tikrit, and Al Asad. Our group that travelled from Georgia to Kuwait finally had to split up and go to our assigned destinations. The pictures shown above are of all of us saying farewell and safe travels to our buddies heading off to to Mosul. It was hard for me to say goodbye to LT Sabas - she was so kind and a great battle buddy! We plan to Skype with each other and she's going to visit me in Hawaii one day. The Tikrit group (my group) was the last to leave.

Time for Chow!

I was shocked to find out that many American fast food chains made its way to Kuwait. I found: Taco Bell, Burger King, Baskin Robins, Starbucks, Green Bean Coffee, and Panda Express. If you're ever at Camp Buehring, I recommend you trying the beef bugolgi from Panda Express...it is delicious!

It was also nice to see some color while strolling from place to place. Many groups stationed here left their mark by painting on the T-walls. You'll find these walls everywhere in theater. They are intended to protect weaker structures within it from high velocity blasts.

Hello Kitty Soldier

I found these embroidered patches and bags at an alteration store in Kuwait. Who says that Hello Kitty can't tough it out???

MRAP training

One training that my mom warned me about was MRAP training. MRAP stands for "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected" Vehicle. We basically train on how to react to a rollover while a passenger in one of these huge tanks. I strapped myself tightly in one of these tanks while it simulated a 90 degree and 180 degree rollover and demonstrated how to remove my seatbelt and exit the vehicle. Its such a scary feeling but the training is necessary - and it saves lives!

We also did a simulated humvee rollover and I was the driver! That time, we had to carry rubber weapons and demonstrate how to correctly brace them during the rollover. I was holding onto my weapon for dear life because we were told that some people ended up with a bloody nose or a black eye from their weapon hitting them in the face!

5 Rounds

We had to wake up at 3am one morning to drive into the desert and test fire our M9s to make sure they were working while in transit to Iraq. We waited for range clearance for about an hour and got to watch the sunrise on the never-ending sea of sand dunes. Upon clearance, we were each give 5 bullets to shoot. As we departed the site, someone spotted a herd of wild tan and white camels in the distance. I wish I could have caught a good picture of them!

96 Degrees in the Shade

We landed in Kuwait at about 2 in the morning for security purposes...which I wasnt happy about at the time, but changed my mind when we got off the plane. It felt like being under a giant hot blow dryer. I couldnt imagine what it was gonna feel like when the sun rose! We then entered curtained buses that hurried us off to Camp Buehring. I realized that I was no longer in a safe area when we had two soldiers carrying M16s in the front of the bus for security.

The first picture above is the women's tent. We all slept on cots, shared a community shower, and had to do our business in porta potties.

The next picture is me and my battle buddy, MAJ Tha. A "battle buddy" is another soldier that acts as your partner and watches over you. MAJ Tha was like a mentor to me as well. She's been in the military for awhile and taught me a lot of helpful tips to make it through each day. I am forever grateful to have met her.

The third picture is one of several AT&T calling centers. There are about 20 phone booths within the building and I was able to call my parents several times despite the 13 hour time difference to Hawaii. Sorry mom and dad for waking you up at 3am!

The last picture is the women's shower facility right across from our tent. There were 6 sinks and 8 shower stalls within it.

Enroute to Kuwait

We had our last meal at the airport on Ft Benning after processing in. One thing I noticed about the Army is that they will always feed you and you will never go hungry!

The first half of our flight took us to Shannon, Ireland. How cool is that? We had to wait about 5 hours before re-boarding so I ended up going to the duty free shop and was able to mail out a couple of postcards to family and friends.

Whirlwind Week

Our first day of training started on Sunday...which left us barely any time to recooperate from the long flight and time difference. We would wake up at 3 to 4am every morning to be in formation on time and start our day. Our 12-16 hour days involved several briefs (or what a lot of people like to call - death by powerpoint), standing in line at CIF to be issued heavy bags of combat gear, qualifying at the range, and making sure our medical records were up to date.

We completed everything within the week and was lucky enough to fly out to Kuwait by Friday. I was so ready to get out of the Georgia humidity!

Jet Lagged!

Aug 8th 2009 - Finally landed in Columbus, GA after 10 hours of flight time and a 5 hour layover in Atlanta. We hauled all our gear and took a bus ride to Ft Benning, where our initial training would be.

I roomed with two other females - MAJ Tha and CPT Browne from Madigan Army Medical Center. Here is a pic of our room - I had the bottom bunk!

This is the entrance of billeting - the females had their own secluded off section of the building.

Prepping for Deployment

Fri, Aug 7th 2009 - My last day in Hawaii. My parents flew up from Hilo and spent the entire week with me up to my departure. Lots of the time was spent packing my life away in a 10x10 storage unit and creating care packages to start mailing to Iraq. We also made sure to eat every single Asian cuisine known to man since we all knew I wouldnt be seeing any of that for awhile.