Introduction

In March, 2005, Dan (and three of his friends) completed a twenty five day, six country tour of the Middle East to entertain and uplift thousands of brave men and women of our U.S. Military. Here you can experience this adventure for yourself by reading Dan’s first-hand accounts, seeing photos of the experience, and much more.

To navigate this site, you can click the individual journal entries one at a time, or read them in sequence using the “previous” and “next” links withing each entry. Also be sure to check out the additional links for more information.

Dan’s Trip Journal

During the expedition, Dan was able to maintain a day by day account of the experience, incorporating photos and stories in order to provide insights unavailable anywhere else. Enjoy!

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Some of the morale boosting activities at Camp Navistar: Basketball and movies.

23 March, Camp Doha, Kuwait 09:45

I’m here at the MWR(Moral, Welfare and Recreation) office as John is teaching Contee, Brody and the rest of the gang the fine art of “whip cracking.” It’s all laughs, and I have to smile at the way these silly skills of ours help make memorable connections and new friends wherever we go.

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(L) The Camp Doha water tower. (R) Todd and Spence hit the gym.

22 March, Camp Doha, Kuwait 0915

Another day at Doha, and it’s starting to feel like we are in a routine. Morning coffee/breakfast with John and Todd (Spencer sleeps in), email at the MWR offices, workout at the gym, lunch, then get ready for our excursion to the evening’s performance. Tonight it is Camp Navistar, about one hour from here and a stone’s throw from the Iraq border. In fact, I’ve heard we will be, technically, in Iraq (if you go by the old maps). When Saddam Hussein was thrown out of town, the borders shifted slightly to Kuwait’s advantage.

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(L) We did a bit of entertainment for the guard at Camp New York. (R) The most remote Green Beans Coffee we have seen yet.

21 March, Kuwait

Greetings from Kuwait, where the skies are endless blue and the price of gas is 17 cents per gallon! It is Monday, just after 0900. We slept in later than usual after last night’s performance and missed breakfast this morning.

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John and Spencer cross blades as we cruise the sky toward Kuwait.

19 March, Kuwait, 15:13

Last night we said goodbye to Qatar and boarded our own personal C130 to Kuwait City. In the back of the bird there were just the four of us and the flight’s Load Master, Tom Marhulik. Before take off we met the flight crew and several others who were taking photos with an American flag at the rear (open compartment) of the plane. We jumped right in and caught some great pictures with them.

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