Tenille Arts ~ Military Tour ~ Bahrain & Kuwait

The key word for this trip is “Hydrate”

I got about 4 good hours of sleep then off and on from 6 to 8. We have our first show tonight and Geoff from the base will pick us up at 1. This gave everyone time to sleep in and do some much needed laundry. I went downstairs around 9 to meet Katie and grab the autograph sheets. Got ready and went to grab some lunch before departing.

Geoff met us and we headed out. He stopped by the Tree of Life on our way here. It’s a tree out in the desert that they aren’t sure where the water source come from. Very cool.. but it is so hot. It’s not a dry heat either. I think the feels like is 120. Of course the shows are outside too.

We were escorted on base and then Geoff took us to tour a couple of the units bases here. I have to say this is probably one the coolest ( not temperature wise) bases I have had the opportunity to visit. Every single we person we met here was so nice and grateful for us being here. They took their time with us and let us ask all kinds of questions. Geoff said it was one of the longest visits he has done as most of the Units do not hang out as long. Hoping to see some of the men and women we met today at the show tonight.

After the visits we dropped our stuff at the Mess Hall and took the equipment over to stage. Sound Check took about an hour. I think it has cooled off a few degrees but still 100 at 7pm!

After sound check we took Tenille over to a place to get ready for the show and the band went to eat. Michael grabbed a salad and sent over to Tenille. I grabbed a wrap at the little food truck by the stage and sat in the Mess Hall and talked to some of the Chiefs.

Show started on time at 8 and we had a great crowd for a Monday night in this heat. They were very enthusiastic and appreciative. Tenille and the guys put on a great show and I know it couldn’t have been easy in this heat.

Our M&G lasted about 30 mins and then we packed up and headed out. It really was a great 1st night. What an awesome base and people and Geoff took great care of us.

Back in the room and took the coldest shower of my life. Up early for AFN interview at 9am and 2nd show tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

I Finally had a full night’s rest. After getting ready, I grabbed something to eat at the Mini Mart inside our lodging. They have a little section of fresh food and they are open 24 hrs!

Tenille, Michael and I met our escort Rebecca in the lobby at 8:45 and walked over to the AFN interview. It’s 9 am and already 100 outside. The radio interview went well and lasted about 45 mins. We then walked back over to lodging, picked up the band and then drove over to where we had an EOD visit. That was a very cool and informative experience. They let Tenille and the band suit up in the bomb squad safety suit and answered all our questions. We also played around in the Diver’s area where we got to go inside a “hyperbaric” chamber of sorts.

I think the EOD unit would have let us stay all day with them and we truely appreciate them taking their time with us, but we are also scheduled to visit the K9 Unit. before we do sound check. Rebecca drove us back across base to the K9 unit and they took us into a fenced in area where 1 by 1 they brought a different dog out with their handler. They each did a different demostration. The dogs go through training at Lockland AFB. Did you know you can adopt one of the dogs that has been trained? It may have been hurt or just didn’t pass all the training. I would love to fly to TX and adopt one but I think Crunch might get too jealous! Because of the heat, they can’t work the dogs very long and they even have some of them walking around with little “booties” on to protect their paws from the hot cement. After some demonstrations we took a few pics then went to grab a light lunch before going to sound check.

There was a little late getting started on sound check and we had a Triad meeting set for 2:00 pm. Katie – our MWR rep here and I took Tenille over and we met with the Commanding Officer, Captian William Lane and the EO Commander Rivera. We stayed and talked with them for about 10 mins and took some pictures before taking Tenille back over to finish sound check. It is brutally hot (feels like 123 degrees) so they did a very quick run through and we were done. Rebecca offered to order us some Indian food from a local restaurant and have it delivered. I walked with her to the Pedistrian Gate and helped her carry the food back to lodging for everyone. Show is at 6 so I had about an hour to run back upstairs and shower (again) dress and check us in for our Gulf Air flight to Kuwait tomorrow afternoon.

The venue is a around the corner from lodging, about a 2 minute walk. Katie also set up a Green Room area in the building across the from the stage for us.

They took the stage at 6pm (it’s only 98 degrees now) and the place started filling up with people. About halfway through, the CO came over and we chatted a little longer, he said he was enjoying the show and thanked us again. About the time he walked away some of the guys in the audience got on another’s shoulders and started dancing. This was a first for me!

Tenille and the band performed another great show tonight. It has to be so hard mentally and physically to keep going in this heat and so much sweat!

Thankfully the M&G is inside tonight! Geoff, our escort from yesterday, came out tonight with his wife, kids and nieces. It was a pleasure getting to meet all of them. His kids and nieces are teenagers and really enjoyed the show.

Wrapped everything up around 8:30 PM and back to lodging. I have an exciting evening of doing laundry since I have worn and sweated through all my clothes already. Chatted with Zac and Zoe, they are with their Dad this week in Myrtle Beach. Looking forward to giving them great big hugs when we all get home Sunday.

No early morning tomorrow. Check out by noon and off to the airport by 1.

Bahrain, even with the heat, has been a wonderful experince. I hope to come back again one day, just maybe not in summer

Kahlid arrived at 11:30 and we loaded up the luggage and gear. We ran back over to the food court and grabbed a quick lunch and drinks before leaving for the airport.

The 30 minute drive to the airport was the only sightseeing of Bahrain that we got. I do hope to make it back here again and have more time to explore.

Checked in at the Gulf Air counter and they wanted to separate us all for check in since we were all in separate records even though flying together. I advised them that I had all the paperwork and we would have to pay for some excess bags. Thankfully they let us split between to check in counters side by side. We each had to show our Kuwait Visa,approval, which I had to do last minute before leaving and our onward flight home from Kuwait..again..it pays to print everything out!

Kahlid had to get customs to clear our equipment manifest which means the customs official had to take my boarding pass and passport to his office and stamp the paperwork.This is probably the cleanest airport I have ever been in.

The screen said boarding time was 3:45, at 3:30 I happen to look up and see people already boarding. No announcement or anything! The 2 that went off to use the restroom came running back and we boarded the plane. A highlight to this day was the Gulf Air gate agent telling me I looked like Robin from the TV show “How I met Your Mother”. Have to say that was a new one.It was a quick 1 hr flight to Kuwait.

We were met at the gate by Shibbear from the Embassy. He walked us through getting our Visas and clearing customs. Tameca from MWR met us outside baggage claim and we loaded the cargo van with luggage and gear and then we hopped on the passenger van with her. It was a 30 min drive to the base we are staying at. I knew ahead of time that it wasn’t going to be as nice as we had in Bahrain. Separate rooms with shared bath… BUT… When Tameca went to get keys to rooms.. they bumped us down bc there is a conference here with 3 and 4 star Generals and they took our lodging. And they didn’t tell Tameca. We went to look at our “rooms” and as Tameca said.. it looked like a jail cell with a bathroom at the end of the hall. Nope, not doing it. Went back to where we got the keys and Tameca had a chat with he supe there, she finally put us in I Bay lodging .. with the nicer communal bathrooms and the rooms are bigger but the walls between rooms are not floor to ceiling so not much privacy. We ran to get some dinner before things closed and took it to the community center to eat. I have no cell service and have to connect to wifi to make any calls or send messages…which only seems to be at the community center. Finally talked to Mom and told her the situation, she spoke with Tameca as well and we are arranging for us to go to the Radisson (where we have always stayed) for next 2 nights before leaving. Keeping fingers crossed!!

Going to try and get some sleep.

Went to bed around 12:30 and woke up at 4, couldn’t get back to sleep. Checked my text messages and sometime during the night I must have had service for a bit as I had texts from Mom and The Kuwait Radisson regarding our rooms and stay What a relief. I texted Michael to let him know we would be moving to the Radisson and to have everyone bring all their stuff down at 11 when we depart to Camp Ali Al Saleem. We will check in after the show tonight.

Since Tenille s room is right next to mine, I could tell she wasn’t sleeping much either. At 6 am I went to the community center and spoke with mom before she went to bed and with Tameca who was very happy we would be going to the hotel. Seriously.. I love this lady.

Ran over to the DFAC and grabbed a quick breakfast then back to my room to pack up.. that took all of 5 mins!

Tameca and her crew showed up at 11 to pick us up, loaded everything back into the vans and made the 1 hour drive up to Ali.

One cool thing is getting to see so many people I met years ago when we were bringing so many tours to this area. It has been 11 years since I have been here. They all ask how Ma’am Judy is and even my brother Chris.

Today’s show is our 1 inside show. Yes. It is 116 here today and feels like 116.. but it’s a dry heat. No, not really.

We pulled up to the Theater at Ali at 1 and dropped our gear in the green room. Of course the AC at the theatre is on the fritz, but they have called someone and should be fixed soon. While the production team is setting up, we all walked across to the Italian restaurant and grabbed a quick lunch. Tameca was only suppose to bring us to the base today and pick us up after the show as this one show was not under her reign, but her awesome self stayed with us all day.

Soundcheck started at 3. There were some issues with the mixes that took time to work through so instead of a 1 hour soundcheck, it was almost 3 hours. The show tonight doesn’t start till 8 which is great as this gives them more downtime to prep for show. At 6:45 I walked Tenille to a building a Ross from the theatre that had a private bathroom for to get ready in.

Doors opened at 7and at 7:45 I brought Tenille backstage. We did a quick hello with some of the Leadership here and a grabbed a photo with them and the band. I believe the band is as excited to be playing inside with AC (which was fixed during soundcheck) as they are to be here performing for our military!

Show started right on time. This is our third show and I really am blown away each time by her vocals. Her songs really show off her vocals range. When we do the M&G after the shows, I take the pic for the person with their phone and I have had so many tell me that they are new fans of hers. Some really didn’t know to much about her or maybe had heard a song or saw her perform on “The Bachelor” but they come away very impressed.

We finished the show around 9:20 and M&G by 10. They had pre ordered some dinner for us to eat on the bus on the way to the hotel. As we headed out I had Tameca stop at ” The Rock” monument. It was a tradition on all our tours to take a group photo by it. Grabbed a quick photo then off to the hotel!!

I wish I had a picture of the bands faces when we pulled up to The Radisson.. it was pure delight!

Took the best shower of my life now looking forward to stretching out on this King bed.

Best sleep ever! So nice to be back here. Took full advantage of their ultimate breakfast buffet this morning too!

Tameca was there at 10 and we were rolling to Buerhing by 10:30. It is a 2 hour drive to this camp. Unfortunately the van gets really hot inside, even with the AC on full blast, it just can’t keep up with the heat bearing down, even keeping the curtains closed. Today’s high is suppose to be suppose to be a cool 118.

We arrived base at 1 and went straight to the DFAC. This DFAC is da bomb! They recently put in an iced coffee bar and cobbler bar, fresh melon juice and smoothies. Highly recommend if you are in the area…

After lunch we went out to the flight line and were able to get a little tour of some of their helicopters. Took some pics, asked a lot of questions, played around in the cockpit. Wish we could have stayed longer but we had to get over to the stage. Everyone really enjoys these unit visits. I met Camille, who is the owner of the production company here in Kuwait. Also Joseph is here, the FOH we will have for tonight and tomorrow nights show. During soundcheck, Armando, who I met over here in 2011 and who has been deployed back here ( he only has 3 months left here) walked over to say hello. It was great getting to see him again. Almost the same place 11 years ago.

Soundcheck was very hot and very quick! The venue is nice though. Big covers stage and huge covered pavillion.

Armando joined me for dinner at Great Escape by the venue which gave us some more time to catch up.

Tameca made some announcements and Tenille took the stage at 7:10. Tameca kept talking this base up, saying it is the fun base and where we will have the most people. She was correct. We had over 500 and they were very lively! During one her songs, they started line dancing and then dancing, dancing . Like swinging partners up in the air, around their bodies, etc. It was awesome to see!!

M&G took about an hour and we were ready to roll out by 9:30. She has def made a lot of new fans on this trip!

We were driving back to the hotel and Tameca gave us the option to see “The Towers” which are beautiful little up at night. It was a nice drive that allowed them to see some of the city.

Made it back to the hotel around midnight. I tried to check everybody in for our flights out after the show tomorrow night but Lufthansa was giving me issues and I was too tired, so going to catch some and try again in the morning!

Dressed, packed, ate and checked out by 10:30. All my new friends at The Radisson said goodbye.

We are headed back to camp Arifjan for our last show today. We had lunch at the DFAC in the VIP room with some of the men from a Canadian unit that is here. As we walked in the DFAC 2 of the leadership were just grabbing their lunch and we invited them to come have lunch with us in the VIP room. What a stroke of luck!

The new base commander just took over last week. Then we headed over to the theatre and did a small M&G, . One of the guys brought his guitar and mentioned he was a singer. Tenille asked him to sing a song. We invited him to open the show tonight with a few songs.

Next was over to the stage to start soundcheck, we were early so I ran into the PX and found some shirts for Zac and Zoe. I have missed them so much and looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Soundcheck actually started 30 mins earlier than scheduled as the production company has been doing a great job. Weather update.. it’s 114 at soundcheck. I’m not sure it took even an hour today.

We had a little over 2 hours of downtime before showtime. Most of us just chilled in the green room behind the stage. It’s just to hot to be outside very long. At 5:30, Ethan showed up and went out and did about 20 mins of songs. He had his unit there for support and it was just so cool to see. Glad he had this opportunity.

Tenille took the stage a little after 6. The Base Commander came over to me about 3 songs in and said he was enjoying her show very much as was everyone else. I think everyone that comes out that isn’t familiar with her is very shocked and pleasantly surprised by how talented she is and how entertaining she and the band are.

M&G took about an hour and at 8 we were all heading over to I Bay to use their showers to freshen up before our long journey home tonight. I Bay is where we all spent the first night in Kuwait before moving over to the Radisson. Took our showers and I’m not sure how it happened but Tenille and I both beat the guys back out to the van by like 10 mins.

Left for the airport at 9 and arrived at 10. Checked in and was told we had a 30 min delay. We have a short connection in Frankfurt so hopefully it doesn’t affect us to much! 30 mins turned into a 1 ½ hr delay

Sunday July 24, 2022 – Headed home (hopefully)

We landed Frankfurt as our flight to Chicago was boarding. We all ran like hell to the gate but we had to go through security again and that delayed is even more. Started running to the gate again but we’re stopped by United agents advising they had already closed the doors on our flights. Missed it by 10 mins.

Back to the LH customer service to get rebooked. The only flight to the US on any airline that wasn’t overbooked was a 1050 flight to Detroit, but they couldn’t find a flight available from Detroit to Nashville. We took the Detroit flight before it was no longer available and started looking at all our options to get to Nashville. ..everything is sold out! Michael found 3 seats for Tenille and 2 band guys on Southwest but we aren’t sure if they will make the connection depending on how long customs takes in Detroit. As we began to board I saw a DL nonstop to Huntsville this evening. A 2 hour drive home sounds much better than an 8 hour drive from Detroit, which is our back up plan Yikes!

We arrived Detroit on time and passed through passport control. Tenille took off to go check in for her flight while the guys and I grabbed luggage. I am shocked but all our luggage made it, the only thing that didn’t was the 4 guitars that are checked as oversize. We filed the claim and they should be making it over the pond tomorrow. Matthew and Sean went to check in at Southwest for their 5pm flight and Michael, Preston and I took the shuttle over to the Delta terminal. Landed Huntsville on time and finally walked in my house at 9 pm. It’s been almost 48 hours since I was in a bed!

Again.. I cannot express how impressed and grateful I am to Tenille, Michael, Preston, Sean and Matthew on how they handled all the bumps and challenges of this tour. They are all simply amazing, kind and talented people and so glad I had this experience with them. I hope to do more with them in the future, if they will have me!

I am also very grateful that I had the chance to take this group overseas to perform for service men and women and give them a little piece of home while they are deployed. It brings all the feels to see them in the crowd, dancing, singing and just enjoying themselves.