American Soldiers in Dubai

Flying home from Dubai last June, our flight was delayed twelve hours, causing me to miss a connection when I arrived in the US. Julie called the travel agent who the school uses, insisting that we needed to get home by a certain time. The only way for this to happen was to fly through Kuwait instead of the direct flight home that was scheduled. The Kuwait airport—which we have flown through before—is literally overrun with American soldiers and contractors. Our plane home to Atlanta was even more inundated with military soldiers, personal, and contractors. While I had noticed Americans in Dubai, I had never presumed they were soldiers until I was flying home on a plane full of them.

For many Americans, military service provides the main access to visiting Dubai. The city never quite caught on with American tourists because of its location half way around the world. So, a stop before, during, or after a tour of duty is how many Americans are left to see the city. Since the city is so Westernized, it provides an ideal location for a short sabbatical away from the stresses of wartime.

The funniest time I noticed a group of soldiers came recently on the top of a dam outside of Hatta, a fort town along the UAE-Oman border. I was there with my class on a field trip, touring the Hajar Mountains and rugged landscape of the UAE for Social Studies. Our bus stopped at the top of the dam and the boys had the chance to walk along the upper wall of the dam and see who could throw rocks hard enough to reach the water below. Ten minutes later, a convoy of Landcruisers made the same drive up the hill to the top of the dam. As they drove across the dam to turn around at the other side, each SUV was filled with four American soldiers. They were on a Desert Safari, the customary trip visitors to Dubai make with an hour of dune-bashing followed by an Arabic meal at a “Bedouin” camp. It was a bizarre feeling of Americans about the same age as myself ending up on the same dam in the middle of nowhere on the Gulf Peninsula.

More commonly, it's seeing a small group walking around the mall or out at a hotel restaurant taking advantage of the alcohol available at these establishments. There have been several occasions Julie and I have been out with friends while a group of soldiers indulge in the food and libations available. We were recently at a friend's birthday party at a Mexican restaurant near the airport as four soldiers downed Budweisers and ate chips and salsa. At malls, they do what most people do when they first get here, take pictures and take the novelty of this place in in its entirety.

Even more that the Kuwait airport, the Dubai International Airport is the primary transit point for soldiers who have a week off of duty or are traveling home. While not as noticeable as Kuwait because of the higher volume of passengers in the airport, it is definitely present. This presence ranges from Halliburton employees (the Houston-based oil company who has its partner office in Dubai), paramilitary (a la Blackwater) to actual soldier. From what I have read, Terminal 2 is even more active with very frequent flights between Kabul and Baghdad. With this shipping activity and multitude of freights, it has turned this airport into one of the busiest commercial airports in the world. So, one can imagine how the UAE has profited from the military presence in these neighboring countries.

Besides military freight and soldiers that pass through the country, Dubai serves as a primary logistical hub for war-related cargo that ships to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the start of these wars, Jebel Ali Port has become the US Navy's most frequented port outside the US. Nearly all of the supplies shipped into Iraq or Afghanistan are re-exported through Dubai first. So again, it does not take a far stretch of the imagination to discern how Dubai and the rest of the country is profiting from America's meddling in the region. Lastly, given this close understanding on these military matters, I assume that the UAE is further benefitting from the American surveillance efforts that are based in the UAE and are directed towards Iran.

Whatever the UAE's interests and interactions with the US on these political, economic, and military matters, I look forward to coming home and talking to people who have seen Dubai and seen it from a soldiers' perspective to hear what their impressions about the Emirates were.