Al Udeid air base
Join Date: May 2000
Location: door or ramp, don't mind.
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"This is the swimming pool......This is the Patio.....This is the outdoor theatre and dance floor......" 
For an SH perspective try:
www.butlins.com
For an SH perspective try:
www.butlins.com
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: UK
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2 Gyms, Cinema, BX, Pizza hut, BK, Costa Coffee type shop, great pool complex, bar area and enough ice cream to get the biggest spam butt in the world.
If you gotta go somewhere OOA (middle east), this is it , enjoy.
Ginge
If you gotta go somewhere OOA (middle east), this is it , enjoy.
Ginge
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Wiltshire
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Al Udeid
Who needs anything at the 'Deed? If you ain't sleeping, you're working, and vice versa! 24-hour messing but it's American so don't expect roast beef and two veg... or any veg, for that matter.....
What you see at the Deid
Karaoke, Bingo, Country Music, Beef Jerky, Gatorade, No exposed skin, Anti-litigation Warning signs everywhere, Kamikaze Road Crossings, Reflective Belts, stares for not standing for the American Anthem, Big Guns at the breakfast table/library/post office/pool, men standing awfully close to other men in the swimming pool, no "Please", "Thankyou" or "Y'all hava narce dayy", slow walking, grunting, three beers, leaky smelly toilets, graffiti, sunburnt Brits, dust, sunlight, Pizza Hut boxes, and cheap shoes.
Five of the most commonly heard phrases, and explanations:
"huhh?" = Pardon me, I didn't quite understand what you mean. Could you please explain?
"Arrrr-di !!" = May I please see your ID, kind sir.
"You know what ahm sayin? Dat's what ahm tokking bout" = I'm breathing, and flapping my mouth around, both at the same time !!
" " (whir/click/silence) = vacant expression when you ask a question.
"Oh, you is from that French Royal Queens Army Force? How cute" = What a shame you can't speak American as well as we do. No wonder you don't understand us. Still, I'm glad that you foreign Antarcticans are here buying our beer and cleaning our quarters. Does your island border on Iraq? I think it's great that your President cleans our Presidents' bathroom. Are you not standing for our Anthem? Do you really know Borat personally? You speak Britainish quite well for a foreigner. Isn't his here Karaoke competition at 200dB outside your sleeping quarters just the best fun? You know what ahm sayin? Dat's what ahm tokking bout.
Bottom Line: Just be thankful that you aren't in a shythole somewhere, getting shot at.
Five of the most commonly heard phrases, and explanations:
"huhh?" = Pardon me, I didn't quite understand what you mean. Could you please explain?
"Arrrr-di !!" = May I please see your ID, kind sir.
"You know what ahm sayin? Dat's what ahm tokking bout" = I'm breathing, and flapping my mouth around, both at the same time !!
" " (whir/click/silence) = vacant expression when you ask a question.
"Oh, you is from that French Royal Queens Army Force? How cute" = What a shame you can't speak American as well as we do. No wonder you don't understand us. Still, I'm glad that you foreign Antarcticans are here buying our beer and cleaning our quarters. Does your island border on Iraq? I think it's great that your President cleans our Presidents' bathroom. Are you not standing for our Anthem? Do you really know Borat personally? You speak Britainish quite well for a foreigner. Isn't his here Karaoke competition at 200dB outside your sleeping quarters just the best fun? You know what ahm sayin? Dat's what ahm tokking bout.
Bottom Line: Just be thankful that you aren't in a shythole somewhere, getting shot at.
You are allowed to buy a max of 3 alcoholic drinks per day (bar open about 18 hours). You have to dress into a minimum of shorts and T shirt to go to the cadillacs (ablutions)- not just wrap a towel around you. You have to wear Stanley Mathews MK IV swimming trunks in the pool, where the list of other rules is endless. You cannot wear a running vest in the Gym- it must have short sleeves.
The cookies in the dining room are about the only thing going for the place, apart from the flight out of there (if its not delayed or cancelled).
Do enjoy.
The cookies in the dining room are about the only thing going for the place, apart from the flight out of there (if its not delayed or cancelled).
Do enjoy.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: uk
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I think runaway gun has just about hit the nail on the head. There are a few things to do, good gym with running machines etc (has to be said not as good as mpa), cinema 24hrs a day, food 24 hrs a day(as long as you like everything fried and full of calories) brit welfare centre is ok, excellent pool, only 3 beers a night (but that aint the end of the world). Downside is no privacy and no real social area for brits, sandstorms, laundry that takes 3 days, so bring plenty of easy to wash shorts and t shirts, (nothing too expensive as the laundry service will shrink anything). Overall if you have to be out in the desert then this is probably just about the best of a bad lot, and like has been said, at least you not being bombed every night.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Huntingdon
Age: 46
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My experience of the Deid was brief and in Dec 04 when we took 2x VC10s in for a few days.
Typical VC10 crews - they whined the whole time, but my lads got on with it.
I found the messing quite good (but I can see it would be very boring if it was the same menu for 4 months straight) - salads were good. There was a cinema, BX etc etc etc. But expect the sport on the bar tele to be Dolphins v Redskins rather than Chelsea v Man U.
Basically, an OOA in the desert at Al Udeid would not be all that bad.
(and some of the USAF enlisted girlies were quite easy on the eye
)
Typical VC10 crews - they whined the whole time, but my lads got on with it.
I found the messing quite good (but I can see it would be very boring if it was the same menu for 4 months straight) - salads were good. There was a cinema, BX etc etc etc. But expect the sport on the bar tele to be Dolphins v Redskins rather than Chelsea v Man U.
Basically, an OOA in the desert at Al Udeid would not be all that bad.
(and some of the USAF enlisted girlies were quite easy on the eye
)
Red On, Green On
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the woods and the water
Age: 24
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Here it is on Google Maps.
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Wilts
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It's all relative. If you've spent months on end slumming it in the TDA at Basrah then Al Udeid is a massive step up. However, if your idea of deployed ops is a suite in Bahrain with a wheelbarrow full of rates then you're going to be a miffed aren't you?!
The Hogwarts JEngO
Mr. Junior Engineering Officer; you appear to be an arse. Can you please state precisely why the "typical VC-10 Crew whinned all the time" ? I can only presume you were instrumental in functioning as the self-licking-lollpop that all DOBs are. I guess (from experience) that you provided zero support to the VC-10 detachment while maintaining your once in in every 3-4 year work-holiday commitmnent that is usually combined with elevated self-importance. (Like Ben T- another useless Eng O- at Seeb last year).
Should you be capable of bringing something useful to a detachment, I would be grateful to see it brought to fruition. Otherwise; do your 3 months holiday and keep your neck firmly wound in when referring to the operationally over-streached contingents of our ailling Service; such as the PERMANENT VC-10 detachment.
Rage complete.
Should you be capable of bringing something useful to a detachment, I would be grateful to see it brought to fruition. Otherwise; do your 3 months holiday and keep your neck firmly wound in when referring to the operationally over-streached contingents of our ailling Service; such as the PERMANENT VC-10 detachment.
Rage complete.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Huntingdon
Age: 46
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Avtur:
I'm not getting into a flame war here - nor will I bite.
The whines of the crew at our brief forward deployment from BAH revolved almost exclusively around their sleeping arrangements and 3 days without rates. The engineering support from neither the techies nor myself was ever questioned.
I might add, not all of the flight crew whined, so apologies if I tarred all with one brush.
And to clarify - I wasn't a DOB EngO at AlUdeid, I came with the VC10s.
The whines of the crew at our brief forward deployment from BAH revolved almost exclusively around their sleeping arrangements and 3 days without rates. The engineering support from neither the techies nor myself was ever questioned.
I might add, not all of the flight crew whined, so apologies if I tarred all with one brush.
And to clarify - I wasn't a DOB EngO at AlUdeid, I came with the VC10s.