Welcome to Kuwait!

Camp Virginia, Kuwait – The temporary stopping point for soldiers heading to Iraq. During our short stay here we lived in large rectangular, domed shaped tents with plywood floors that housed up to 50 of us, all within arms reach of one another while on green canvas cots. There was no indoor plumbing; instead we had portable toilets along with several shower trailers that were strategically placed throughout the camp. The walk to the chow hall, through sand and gravel, was long but well worth it to receive a hot meal. The camp has a small Exchange, 24-hour Internet café, Barbershop, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Green Beans coffee, and gift and jewelry shops just to name a few. For recreation, there were tents with full sized weight rooms, movie theater, and the USO which was a great place to take your shoes off and watch television. The temperature was in the mid 50’s – 60’s, but rest assured that it will be double that upon our return through when we head home after six months. Throughout the camp are numerous rows of white tents referred to as PADs, which are surrounded by what appears like endlless stretches of boot imprints on bare sand. Though our stay here was short, it gave us our first taste of what to expect as we headed toward our final destination.