Kuwait: Camp Ali Salem- THE ROCK

Mike and Brian Drive us in the NCIS Truck

I was walking to breakfast on Arifjan and I heard someone yell- GO GO Power Rangers, Brian our security guys said the actor who played the red power ranger is stationed here and is the a fire chief. We grabbed breakfast and I realized this is the last night to hang with our NCIS guys. I’ll miss Brian Johnson, Mike Rowe and Bryan Lee. They are such good guys. We actually rode with Johnson and Rowe in the NCIS Patrol SUV. They are total bad ass dudes.

Bunker Tower

They told us after a sand storm they send out plows to plow the sand off the roads. It is like ice and makes you lose traction. I know we will all stay in touch- I can’t wait to see them back home and have a beer with them.











Mike Rowe was saying- Pick-up trucks in Kuwait are popular. So popular that only natural-born Kuwaitis can have them, (as well as contractors but they need a business insignia on the truck). Kuwaitis have all the money they’ll ever want and yet choose to drive the vehicles preferred by rednecks. The good news is NO REBEL FLAGS!
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Looks like Ron Pearlman

The Ali Al Salem Airbase is in Kuwait, and is operated by the Kuwaiti Air Force. Tonight we finish the show and head to North Africa on Ethiopian Airlines on 9.11 Oh boy! I went to grab breakfast and ran into Contee One of our security guys- Its his birthday. I hope to see him again soon.
Our security guys are awesome. We rode in a NCIS "police" SUV last night, it was the first time I was glab to be in the backseat of a police vehicle.

The Commander call was attended by
Col. Mike Zick
Col. Mike Summers
Chief Master Sergeant Mitchell Balutski
Major Dick Blakemore
SSGT Jenisa Gonzales
Lt. Zach Gonyea
Now the base has roughly 6,000 people about 4,000 are American.
 It houses allot of the c-130’s C-17’s, and C-5’s.

C-130 cargo

15:30 Commander Call
We drove off to Ali Al Salem aka “The Rock”. This base is close to Virginia, and is operated by the Kuwaiti Air Force as well as us. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the air base served as a staging ground for aircraft from the British Royal Air Force, United States Air Force, and the United States Marine Corps. Known as “The Rock” because of its excellent topographical position, the Ali Al Salem air base is located on elevated ground, only 39 miles from the Iraqi border

In the Pit of a C-130

Daily patriot missile drills help to keep the soldiers on guard. A crucial (although extraordinarily isolated) military base, it was overran by the Iraqi Military in 1990.











The French had installed “impenetrable” bunkers, in which the occupying Iraqi forces parked their aircraft. The United States used state of the art bunker busters to destroy the aircraft parked inside of the reinforced bunkers. As a result, the Kuwaitis are still engaged in legal suits against the French.

Rex the Dog at The K-9 Unit

We got amazing tours of the K-9 unit and The Airfield. Everyone was so cool and happy to see us. I love seeing what these guys do.

Finally someone who understands me.

Its 9.10.10 when we were there

Over 6000 miles from ground zero- still get chills

Tomorrow will be rough

Brian Johnson one of our security guys.

 This base is kind of like the U-haul of bases helping to get things out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The guys seemed to really enjoy the show- it was out doors and heavily attended. On The Drive back to the Kuwait airport there was a split second where a driver got very aggressive and we got to see Mr. Rowe snap into action. It was awesome and I would never want to see his bad side.

Sound guy! nice as can be

Mike Rowe

Brian and Mike our NCIS guys- I'll miss the hell out of them!