Kuwait...

The funny thing about the army is, no matter how bad the conditions are, soldiers will determine variations of suck. For example, MRE's (the army meal in a bag). They are all bad...all of them. However, some are worse than others, so as soon as a box of MRE's are opened, soldiers will fight and clamor for the less bad ones. Kuwait is no exception. Most soldiers have deployed multiple times by now and have been through here once or twice. As we pulled up to our living quarters, which are by no means the lap of luxury, one of my soldiers commented that he was glad we weren't living on the other side of the road...it was, according to him, much further from the DFAC (mess hall). I guess comforts are comforts, and we'll take what we can get.

What I notice more, however, is not just the lack of privacy, but the lack of solitude. One cannot be alone here, but that is compounded by the fact that it is a companionship devoid of affection. There are always people with you, but they are not people you are close with in the sense you would be with a family member or lover. It makes for a strange situation wherein there is always someone at arms reach, but you are isolated more than you have been before.