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The Book
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Kuwait Diary - Email from the Desert Camps.
Collected writings from April 2003-August 2004
The table of contents is below. Follow the submenu links on the right side to read several different days' entries.
The front matter of the book, along with the complete first chapter of the book can be found on the iUniverse site so I have not reproduced them here. The quick link on the right or the link on the purchase page will take you there.
It may seem like you are joining an ongoing story. I originally started sending a daily email to family and friends when I deployed to the Balkans, in March of 1998, as Commander of Task Force Med Eagle. On redeployment, my email list dropped to about twenty-five. I continued my emails, although the entries were a bit sporadic over the next several years. On departure for Kuwait, I had new friends and colleagues, along with most of my original readers, on my list. This book contains those daily notes, from my April 2003 arrival in Kuwait until I departed in August 2004.
All events noted here actually happened. The names of most individuals have been replaced by their duty position, or occupation, where appropriate. A number of major missions have only minor mention because of operational security at that time. Any events or operations that would be considered of a classified nature were never included in the first place. Reality and truth far outrank fiction in making life interesting.
Sitting in Kuwait, we were not at significant risk. I saw units and personnel en route north to Iraq, and returning to redeploy to home station. There were good times, and those times which were more than challenging. From leaving home, for fifteen-plus months on the ground, this was my world.
Content
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
April 2003—Arrival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
May 2003—Settling In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
June 2003—New Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
July 2003—Making a Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
August 2003—Future Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
September 2003—Not Always Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
October 2003—Older, No Wiser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
November 2003—Rain and PDHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
December 2003—Weather, Whither, Mid-tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
January 2004—Troop Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
February 2004—Medical Unit Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
March 2004—N**y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
April 2004—A Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
May 2004—Little Victories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
June 2004—Shifting South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
July 2004—Holding On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
August 2004—Going Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
About Holly Doyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523