Qatar

Being in the unit I am in and deployed to the Middle East means that I have Soldiers and units scattered across the region. My responsibility as the brigade chaplain is to ensure religious coverage for all my Soldiers. I achieve that through various ways. One way is what I call a site visit. It is where I go and visit another camp then the one that I live on. A recent site visit took me to the country of Qatar. It is a small country off of Saudi Arabia south of Kuwait.
It was one that I fought against going. No just kidding this was a trip that I could not wait to go on. In fact I fought to go for the fact that one of my beautiful daughters is stationed down there. Cherish is deployed with a medical logistic unit to Qatar. I can't tell you the pride that I have in my girls. They all serve or served in one way or another. Either as a Soldier or a spouse of a Soldier. I am indeed blessed.
I spent the days down in Qatar visiting my units and since my daughter works nights I would go to her office area and spend the evenings visiting with her. It caused me to recall the times I worked or served with my Dad. It has been such a highlight of my time here knowing that Cherish was deployed with me. Though seperated a bit and we don't get to see each other all the time it has been still a special time.

On my last day there Cherish and I took an MWR trip in to Doha. Qatar was and somewhat still is known for its Qatari pearls. So in the top picture you see Cherish and I standing in front of a giant pearl on the water front of Qatar.

The gold market or Gold Souk was amazing. It was literally streest lined with gold. The gold here is typically very pure and is sold by the ounce not by the piece. The gold sold here tends to be 18 to 22 carat. Beautiful hand made intricate pieces. The price is quite high because of the purity and selling the gold by the ounce.

I did find some beautiful pearls sets. I think De'Dee will look beautiful in the set I got for her. Shhh it is her Christmas present. LOL No she already knows. She likes knowing what her gifts are. I have never understood that part. It has something to do with the excitment of knowing instead of faking.

We then went from the Gold Souk to the Old Souk or Old Market. At the Old Souk there was about anything you wanted. To include restuarants and various shops.

One of these shops was the hunting Falcon shop. They still use Falcons to help in their hunting. What they hunt I am not sure but they were amazing birds to see.

As we were leaving the Old Souk to head to a dinner at a local resturant I snapped the next picture of Cherish in the market. The lit tower behind her is actually the top part of a three story building. The bottom part of the building has a bank. I cannot remember what was on the second floor but the third and final floor which you see a part of with the tower is a mosque.

The local food was very good. Cherish was not impressed that I was attempting to take her picture while she was eating. Obvious by the look she is giving me. Kind of Dad, knock it off and let me eat.

It was nice to see something other then what is inside the wire of Camp Arifjan but in many ways it was just another middle eastern country.

The trip there was made worth while in the fact of getting to spend time with Cherish. The memories that were made being a father and a daughter are ones that last a life time.