CENTCOM ( Fifth Fleet HQ) has an enormous footprint. Even the intelligence buildings ( SCIF) are easily recognizable both from the road and by satellite.
Conversely, at Al-Udeid AB in Qatar , the sensitive containment buildings are purposely designed to hide. They don’t even throw shadows . From satellite imagery, they look like a mostly empty lot and are self contained complete with their own PX and chow hall. Which is great because nobody wants to go outside in Qatar until around 10:00 PM or so. The heat is oppressive. That is when I’d usually get my runs in.
News from the region is definitely bringing back memories.
Indeed it is Aaron. When were you in Qatar? I lived about 200 miles southeast of you in Muscat, Oman. Was there supporting our B-2's in 2002. I was in contact with the Qatar command post daily.
Yes, at 10:00 pm it was manageable to be outside - because the temperature was only 100 degrees and the humidity would dip below 90% for a while.
ol' dad
Ol' Dad,
I was there from 2012-2013 as part of Obama's shell game. When he made his speech about the troop drawdown in Afghanistan, he made it sound like we were all coming home. Naw. Most of us were redesignated and assigned a different "administrative control (adcon)" . So, every few months, I'd fly from Kandahar to Al-Udeid to sign some papers , make a showing and fly back. Along with 20,000 other troops . Some would go to Kuwait, some to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and some of us to Qatar.
That desert humidity was a very strange phenomenon. I hear Oman was the place to be. Still hot as blazes, though.
