Ferrari Mailing List: Re: NFC: Moving to Kuwait this week

[Larry Turnercatalina$27 (l02turner]

I worked in Saudi in the late 70's on a similar basis.   The 6-10s (that's what I was on) are definitely something to keep you focused on work!  Up at 5 and back in my room around 6 and in the sack.  But if you've done this before you'll know all about that.  The thing that I found odd was the way people from different countries were placed in specific jobs.  Cooks/Food Prep were mostly Indian.  Engineering and Proj. mgmt. was European and American/Canadian. The Saudi's liked to drive trucks as the largest vehicle had the most right of way.   Labor was typically Turkish. etc, etc.  While the money is attractive, every dollar is earned as I found it difficult living away from my family.  The hours and location were little different from some American refineries I've worked on. Except for the lack of activity during after hours.  Not that we had much time to do anything but work.  We did have one day a week off - on Fridays 6 of us would get a Suburban from the Motor Pool and we'd go into one of the local towns.  On one trip we came across a accident that had just occurred - we drove on and I asked if we should stop and help - they said no because if a Saudi was involved we might get in trouble.  Previously a ex-pat stopped and pulled a Saudi woman from a car starting to burn and gave her CPR which probably saved her life.  He was arrested and charged with assaulting the woman.  I have forgotten the punishment but it would not be pleasant.  In their jails, only the prisoners whose family or employer brought them food were able to eat.  At least that's what we were told.  We were also told to leave all meds at home as the customs tend to treat any med as illegal drugs, even Aspirin. Also, no Bibles or wearing of crosses.  Kuwait shares a border with Saudi but they can be worlds apart due to the Western influences.  Hopefully you will find it much more tolerant.  But, like I said, you have BTDT, so there will hopefully be few surprises.

Good luck!

LarryT (in Lurk mode)

;-)

On 7/9/2016 6:35 PM, Fellippe Galletta wrote:

The ex-pat duties come calling again, and I'm going.

This time around I'll be moving to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait which is maybe 30 miles south of Kuwait City. I'll be stationed out of there for the most part but will travel to military installations in neighboring countries......Oman, UAE, Qatar, probably Iraq too. No Afghanistan I was told.

I'll be one of two Fire Protection engineers out there doing design and inspection work for facilities on these bases. I've done this sorta thing stateside when I lived in Charleston, SC and then on site when I lived in Diego Garcia. The work is fun, but the new location should be very interesting!

A lot of friends and family tend to see this as dangerous, mostly because of the state of the Middle East these days, ISIS, etc. Others I talk to that have served in the region or have done ex-pat activities there tell me Kuwait is a very safe and wealthy country, safer than America on average.

Won't be looking to get into trouble, and working 6 days a week should help with that. :)

I fly out on Friday, and I'll be back in a year with an R&R sometime in January. 

Will post some thoughts to the list after some time there.

Talk soon!

FG

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