Chapter 14
0600, 6 June 2004
Transit Billeting
Camp Victory, Kuwait
The temperature had reached over 115 degrees Fahrenheit when Beck and Way stepped out of the transient tent and attempted to get their bearings to find the chow hall. They had spent a day, night, and another day on a chartered Boeing 737 traveling from California to Kuwait. The trip required the plane to refuel three times, and the men had cobwebs in their brains. They had not had a drink of alcohol in two days, the longest period of time for both of them in over 30 years.
Camp Victory felt like a space station on the desert planet Arrakis from the novel Dune, a depressing environment of tents, port-a-johns, and diesel generators. Beck’s uniform lay hot against his skin. The desert wind burned his nostrils, and within
