I'm looking at possibly going on TCN duty, has anyone did this and what did they like/dislike about it?

Exactly what certain questions (instead of a broad like/dislike) are you looking for regarding TCN duty? I did it at Al Dhafra back in Sep 06 and I know first hand experiences from there but have heard it differs at each base really. I guess basically the only thing that would be the same at each base is that it is a highly visible job and you will have people in the top ranks constantly on you making sure you are doing your job.

basically my question wasnt broad, it states what you like and dislike about it. pretty easy huh? Tell me some detail about your experience in UAE

Likes = if you do your job exactly as directed, you'll be living in a world of free skittles. All you can eat. Decsent hours and off time ta boot.

Dislikes = Boredom, sunburn, boredom, heat, thirst, and did I mention its a boreing task watching Haji did holes and move rocks while standing in the sun?

Hmph, I have never done TCN duty, hell, I have never been deployed, but this sounds interesting. How does one go about volunteering for this.

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Originally posted by A1CKBurrow:
Hmph, I have never done TCN duty, hell, I have never been deployed, but this sounds interesting. How does one go about volunteering for this.

Start w/ your supervisor

Check equal plus also.

I'll check both.

I am currently in Saudi Arabia specifically for TCN Escort. I can't speak for every location but here it is cake! Haven't worked in a month due to Ramadan and right now all I have to do is sit in a chair in the shade for 2 hours and make sure the TCNs are not taking handoffs from uncleared TCNs. The rest of the time I sit in the office and watch movies on the morale drive on the computer. Most of our taskings for jobs require us to sit in an air conditioned villa.

It does get boring and hot but it's simple work and doesn't take much effort at all. It is a great experience. It gets you use to being away from home without getting mortared. If you have aspirations to get in better shape then this is the best place for it as there is nothing else to do but to workout really.

Overall I have to say I really enjoy this experience and don't regret volunteering for it.

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Originally posted by mitty140:
I am currently in Saudi Arabia specifically for TCN Escort. I can't speak for every location but here it is cake! Haven't worked in a month due to Ramadan and right now all I have to do is sit in a chair in the shade for 2 hours and make sure the TCNs are not taking handoffs from uncleared TCNs. The rest of the time I sit in the office and watch movies on the morale drive on the computer. Most of our taskings for jobs require us to sit in an air conditioned villa.

It does get boring and hot but it's simple work and doesn't take much effort at all. It is a great experience. It gets you use to being away from home without getting mortared. If you have aspirations to get in better shape then this is the best place for it as there is nothing else to do but to workout really.

Overall I have to say I really enjoy this experience and don't regret volunteering for it.

sounds like my kind of TDY to the desert

My Escort time in UAE was pretty similar to what Mitty was talking about. During Ramadan you basically work about 4 hours or at times regular shifts (as not all TCN's in UAE are Muslim) and after that we were briefed or voluntold(love that word) to do activities around base to show that the TCN escorts were actually doing something with their time off. After the period of Ramadan it was basically a 6am-6to8pm shift determined on what spot you were on that day. Day's off were mostly Friday due to that being the country's holy day of sorts..similar to our Sunday.

There's a lot of off time so depending on where you are going I encourage you to make use of your time creatively especially in a spot like Al Dhafra or Qatar where you never arm up, wear body armor or any of that sort.

I will however point out like I said before about being highly visible so don't be one of those knuckleheads that goes to the desert and comes back with an article or any sort of judicial punishment. I'll point out a story and if some people here were in UAE at the same time as me (sep 06-jan 07) they will know what I'm talking about. Basically in UAE you are allowed a day off base to do some shopping and eating in town so a group of Escorts took it upon themselves to drink off base at off limit sites and at the same time two got caught kissing in a van by a Emirate officer which they basically flicked off. This not only killed all off base activity for about a month but it made being a TCN escort that much harder for the group that came after us...

Anyways, if you have more questions feel free to PM me anytime and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

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Originally posted by boyhitscar:
My Escort time in UAE was pretty similar to what Mitty was talking about. During Ramadan you basically work about 4 hours or at times regular shifts (as not all TCN's in UAE are Muslim) and after that we were briefed or voluntold(love that word) to do activities around base to show that the TCN escorts were actually doing something with their time off. After the period of Ramadan it was basically a 6am-6to8pm shift determined on what spot you were on that day. Day's off were mostly Friday due to that being the country's holy day of sorts..similar to our Sunday.

There's a lot of off time so depending on where you are going I encourage you to make use of your time creatively especially in a spot like Al Dhafra or Qatar where you never arm up, wear body armor or any of that sort.

I will however point out like I said before about being highly visible so don't be one of those knuckleheads that goes to the desert and comes back with an article or any sort of judicial punishment. I'll point out a story and if some people here were in UAE at the same time as me (sep 06-jan 07) they will know what I'm talking about. Basically in UAE you are allowed a day off base to do some shopping and eating in town so a group of Escorts took it upon themselves to drink off base at off limit sites and at the same time two got caught kissing in a van by a Emirate officer which they basically flicked off. This not only killed all off base activity for about a month but it made being a TCN escort that much harder for the group that came after us...

Anyways, if you have more questions feel free to PM me anytime and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

Those kids are very lucky it was an actual officer (cop). Getting caught doing something (like PDA) in public and NOT being married could have landed them in jail. Most public areas have "religious cops" of sorts that ensure that everything is hunky dory IAW the Kuran

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sounds like my kind of TDY to the desert

Oh yeah it is a blast here! I have more than enough time to lift weights, run, swim, eat pizza, watch movies, play raquetball and study for my certification exam all in the same day!

Going along with what Boyhitscar and TSgtTharin said Riyadh has a pretty high terrorist threat inside the city which is the reason we are not allowed off base at all so if you do get to a location where you are allowed off base do not screw it up because the Religious Police will have no reservations knocking your skull in and throwing you in jail and from what I hear getting you back out of their jails is very tough to do.

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Anyways, if you have more questions feel free to PM me anytime and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

I second that, if you have any questions for me I'll be glad to try answering them for you.

If you enjoy sheer boredom and time dragging then FP TCN babysitting might be for you. The FP folks in Balad looked bored out of their skulls to me, and I was glad I was actually working 13-14 hour shifts on the flightline to make time fly by.

From what I heard you can volunteer for augmentee duty, just talk to your supervisor.

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From what I heard you can volunteer for augmentee duty, just talk to your supervisor.

Yes you can volunteer for augmentee duty...not anymore exciting than escorting, at least not here at Eskan Village. I did augmentee duty and all I did was ride around with Cobra Team counting golf balls on the roads.

It can be terribly slow but I made sure I brought enough material to study while here so I stay plenty busy.

Looks like i'll be going to Qatar, anyone been there besides just flying in to go to Iraq,etc?

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Originally posted by mitty140:

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From what I heard you can volunteer for augmentee duty, just talk to your supervisor.

Yes you can volunteer for augmentee duty...not anymore exciting than escorting, at least not here at Eskan Village. I did augmentee duty and all I did was ride around with Cobra Team counting golf balls on the roads.

It can be terribly slow but I made sure I brought enough material to study while here so I stay plenty busy.

You're at Eskan? I spent quite a bit of time there myself. That place is like a small paradise! It's probably the best kept secret in the AOR. At least in my eyes. Sure, you can't go off base. But, living in the villas (wich are basically private condo's) is great, and no flightline to boot. No waking up at 0200 with a squadron of F-16's taking off. And if that isn't enough, there's the pool, (VERY nice) and there used to be a Baskin Robbin's and shwarma stand right there poolside. Nothing like sitting in the pool eating ice cream in a "hostile fire zone."
God I loved that place. I'd go back in a friggin' heartbeat.

I tried getting extended for a year long but I was shot down .. oh well! The Baskin Robbins and Shwarma stand are gone but we can order Krispy Kreme from Joffrey's now. I wish they had a shwarma stand still here, I love that stuff! The villas are really nice, except I got stuck with the guy I deployed with from my homestation and unfortunately the doors are not thick enough to drown him out!!

When were you here last? I'm due out of here 13 Jan 2008, not really looking forward to going back, I love it here!

Boyhitscar-

I did TCN duty at Al Dahfra UAE from April to August 1997. I am glad to see that things did not change much. We were on shift 24 hours but worked a fraction of that. I got to drive an awesome 1985 Buick station wagon or a 1980's Suburban... GOJ's(thanks Japan)!

Our food was catered and that is where most of the TCN duty came in.

Good to see that crappy vehicles never go out of style. While I was there we were driving some pretty banged up Ford Rangers and Great Walls(think they are even Chinese built so go figure). Some of these vehicles only had about 30k miles on them but their transmissions were falling out and even had one truck where you had to climb through the window to open the doors.

As for the food they had a huge DFAC built on the permanent site (probably the best I've seen in the AOR) and Escorts don't have to watch them at all as most service's personnel are trained in TCN duty as well. Unfortunately 3 of the service's folk actually got Art 15's for losing line of site on a couple of TCN's and that basically ruined their career right there.

fun times...fun times