Personal Narrative: My Deployment To Kuwait

The moment of awareness that made me change my opinion on the world was during my deployment to Kuwait. I realized that there is so much that I take for granted every day without even realizing it. I also realized in that moment that we are so lucky to have the opportunities we do in the United States since not everyone is lucky enough to have them. There are so many great things that we have in America that other countries would be lucky to have.
I remember taking the bus from the airport in Kuwait to Camp Arifjan and looking around the country side and realizing how diverse that country was right away. You could tell right from the start where the rich people lived and where the OCNs lived and how different their living standards were. The rich had these beautiful houses and the OCNs had these homes built almost in the countryside that most of the time looked run down. I also remember it being about 120 when we were in processing in the country and we were doing everything we could to find shade to try to cool down for a bit. Once we finally got to see our living conditions, we settled into the PCB (Pre-Fabricated Concrete Buildings). The PCB were a large open bay that about 60 people lived in with rooms made out of lockers. This would be the first introduction,

and the first day at the place, we would call home for the next year.
As the week went on there were more moments of awareness while being in Kuwait. We had bathroom and shower trailers since there was very few buildings on our base that had indoor plumbing. I started to notice that there were these people that would go around and keep these trailers clean that didn’t seem to completely fit in with the rest of the people there. I later come to find out that these people are known as OCN (Other Country Nationals) and work for a very low wage. For most of these OCNs this was the only way to provide for their family and would send most of their wages back home to their loved ones. In addition, most of the OCNs have a contract were they have to work for a certain amount of time before they can return to their home country.
Later during that deployment, we went to on a mission to Al Jaber Air Force Base, which is controlled by the Kuwait Military.

As soon as we got there, we could see buildings that was bombed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. During that moment, it made me realized how nice it is that we hardly in America ever have to worry about someone coming into our country and trying to invade us as they did to Kuwait. It was nice seeing that most of the people in Kuwait were happy that we were there helping defending them. Also talking to the Kuwait Military it was interesting to see how they are treated like royalty over there and have people waiting on them. In addition, they really love their tea over

there.
It may not have been just one moment of awareness that I experience, but quite a few of them that shaped my view on the world during my deployment to Kuwait. I was lucky enough to see a completely different culture for myself first hand and was an experience I will never forget. It made me realize how lucky I am to have the opportunities I have in the United States and how differently people live throughout the world.