Sand Dunes and Bedouins

Sunday 9 December 2007
1900

Last week my duties took me out into the desert in another part of Kuwait. It was a lot more like what I expected the desert to look like before I came here. It was soft sand, shifting underfoot and blowing in the wind, with sand dunes here and there. We had to be careful where we drove. It reminded me of the book “Dune” that I read in high school, a science fiction work about a desert planet. Some areas of sand were hard and firm, others would have bogged us down in a heartbeat.

I can see where a GPS would be invaluable out here. Landmarks are pretty useless. Navigating without a GPS would be like navigating at sea.

071128 Desert Scene - Dunes
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

I was assigned to go out to Udairi Range near Camp Buehring. It is a huge range complex out in the desert, a few miles from the Iraqi border: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udairi.htm
It was an interesting trip. My mission involved looking at some issues involving UXO (Unexploded Ordnance), informally called “duds”. Because the ranges are huge, located in the open desert, and situated in the traditional areas used by Bedouins for grazing their herds, they wander around pretty much without regard to where they are or what is going on around them.

Bedouins are nomadic tribes without particular national loyalties or even awareness of national borders. They wander around pretty much at will. In Kuwait they are a disenfranchised minority. Because many of them failed to register with the government back whenever that was done, they and their descendents are now permanently regarded as stateless. They are not Kuwaiti citizens so they can’t vote, own property, own businesses, or get passports, but they also cannot legally leave the country. I gather that this is somewhat of an issue in Kuwaiti politics.

Because they are a traditionally nomadic shepherd people, many of them are employed as herders for wealthy Kuwaitis. Like cowboys in the American west who worked for wealthy ranchers and owned little of their own beyond their horses and saddles, they live in tents and trailers and move the herds around seeking good grazing.

Even though it is the desert, there is forage available. They just have to move often because there isn’t much of it. I was told that even the most barren-looking desert has grass root structures just under the surface that camels and sheep can find and eat.

I saw a few of their living areas, which invariably consisted of a trailer or tent, a temporary corral made of portable barriers, and a few vehicles. One had a large 2 ½ ton fuel truck towing the trailer. I commented on them having so much fuel, and the range officer accompanying me told me that it contained not fuel, but water. They carry their water with them, and so are completely self-contained as they move from place to place.

On the way from the cantonment area to the range we ran into some Bedouins herding camels:


071128 Desert Scene - Bedouin
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


071128 Desert Scene - Bedouin Camel Herders
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

We were actually a lot closer than this, but my camera was acting up and I couldn’t take many pictures. The camel herd crossed the road all around us, and we were only a few feet from them. It reminded me of one time in northern Michigan when some moose ran out on the road in front of us. The camels are about the size of moose, and remind me of them in many ways.

When we got to the range, there were camel tracks headed straight past the firing points and downrange into the impact area. There was a Bedouin downrange in the impact area, dismounted off his camel and rooting around on the ground for something. When he saw us looking at him he hopped on his camel and took off.

The Bedouins steal anything that isn’t nailed down out there, and sometimes they even take stuff that is (including the nails). They can get a good price for scrap metal, so chances are this guy was picking up scrap metal downrange. Problem is, not all of it has exploded yet. We saw an entire camel herd cross the impact area about a half mile downrange. We kept expecting a camel to blow sky-high while we watched.

On the road we saw some wind-borne dust that was interesting to me – it looked just like clouds, only brown:


071128 Desert Scene - Airborne Dust
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

It was an interesting day. I was surprised how refreshing it was to get off post, even though it was for official duty. The change of scenery was a very welcome break from the monotony of working in the same limited area day after day. While Camp Arifjan has a lot to offer and is definitely not as confined or limited as a FOB, I can see how life on a FOB could be extremely monotonous after awhile.

I have been very busy lately and haven’t had time to write, even though I have felt more like it than I did for awhile. More soon….

Music: “A Merry Christmas with Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters”
Mood: Festive