So long, Bahrain

I hardly knew ya.

Hello Everyone,

As you can probably infer from the title of this week's blog.  I will be leaving Bahrain shortly and not coming back from what I am told.

A higher priority mission has a requirement for a combat arms LtCol and I am the guy going to fill it.

The United Arab Emirates recently established a new unit called "The Presidential Guard" designed to be an elite strike force.  When the President of UAE (there are 7 emirates or regions which have united and elected a president unlike other middle eastern countries which are kingdoms) was asked who he wanted to train this newly formed elite unit, he responded, "I want the best in the world to train this unit...the United States Marine Corps."

High praise indeed.

So, I will be leaving as soon as my visa to entry the country has been processed which will take a couple of weeks.  I will be serving as the Recon Group OIC (Officer in Charge) and will advise/assist a Col from the Emirates.  Sounds interesting enough and I am honored to be part of the small group carrying out this important mission.

The UAE is the crown jewel of the middle east and I am looking forward to setting up shop there.  Specifically, I will be in the capital city of Abu-Dabi.

Not sure where I will be living yet but I think everyone is living in hotels.  Not the Holiday Inn Express mind you.  My quarters there should be better then where I am now, as nice as that is.  I should be in a 3 bedroom suite so I should have more square footage then my 2 bedroom flat.

The only downside is that I don't' think I will have any place to cook but should at least have a small refrigerator.  The last thing I can afford to do is to get off track with my eating habits.  I'm sure I will have a gym available so I will be able to keep up my daily gym routine.  Think I have lost about 30 lbs since I reported to Djibouti in Aug 2011.

It looks like the diving in UAE is a lot better the Bahrain so I can jump start that effort also.  There will be  Formula 1 race there in Nov so I hope to take that in too.

That's it from here.  Getting pretty hot here and predicted to reach almost 110 degrees this week.  Unfortunately, it is just as hot in UAE!

Cheers,
Michael