Conditions in the Middle East

I'm working in a pretty safe place, relatively speaking. As long as I don't step outside the gate, the worst thing that will probably happen to me inside Camp Arifjan is dust, heat, the occasional camel spider and a mild case of the Kuwaiti Crud. Northern Iraq, the Baghdad area, and anywhere inside the Sunni Triangle are much worse places to be.

The same day I departed for Camp Arifjan, Doc headed out for Iraq. She's currently working in an intensive care unit at a hospital. She's e-mailed me about the conditions where she is.

The area where Doc is gets shelled every day. She works 30 hours at a time and gets little sleep. Her patients are a steady stream of shrapnel, blast, and burn patients. Tragically most of them are young kids, though no one is immune. She's also seen senior enlisted soldiers and officers from the command group level come through her unit. Many of them have sustained horrible, life-altering, career ending injuries.

It's strange to think that Doc and I are only a few hours and miles apart and the conditions are so dramatically different. Though we aren't getting shelled every day, Kuwait is not completely safe either; and it gets increasingly worse as you drive toward the Iraqi border. I hear briefings every day that warn us about suspicious activities in the area and the U.S. State Department is warning travelers to stay away from most Middle East and North African countries.

When westerners go to bed at night, each and every one should thank God they live in a safe place.