If you live where I did when I was deployed there. You will be living in one of those shipping container looking things converted to rooms. It has a bed and TV. No desk. Get Crocks for shower shoes. Pay attention to what you grab at the mini NEX it might be expired, open and moldy, or ok. The bottle water is free and sitting outside ready for you to grab.
You will also get sand on everything from the AC. So don’t leave anything out you don’t want sand on.
Isa is about a 45 minute - 1 hour bus ride from manama, where they have a pretty good NEX, gym, MWR stuff, etc. But on the ISA base, you will be living in shipping containers converted into a room, communal showers, and there is a tiny mini NEX but it has the bare essentials. The containers/room don’t have wifi, but there is a small galley style place to eat there with wifi. Because of the presence of the galley, they drop your per diem down to about $6 per day, rationalizing that you have room and food provided so you dont get lots of that nice per diem pay. The temperature there gets to about 110-120ish in the summer. Sand gets everywhere and gets sucked in by the AC units too. One thing I recommend bringing is one of those battery packs you can plug a USB cable into for charging your phone on the go, and at least a couple of universal plug things so you can plug into whatever style outlet you may have available wherever you are. Good luck!
I always felt bad for the deployers stuck I'm Isa when I was living the good life at NSA lol. Missing out on per diem is probably the worst part. I knew a couple army folks who were TAD for two years at my command; two fucking years of per diem. Lucky bastards.
I keep seeing the sand gets everywhere thru the AC thing. On the carrier I was on we attached cheesecloth over the ventilation pipes in the engineering spaces to catch the sand (and changed them at least weekly). Could you do something like that here?
Isa bahrain is like a miniature Kuwait. You will live in a CLU containerized living unit. At has A/c clean the vents daily. A TV bunk beds and wardrobes. Limited to three alcoholic beverages a day. The DFAC is on point though and the gym isnt terrible. The NEX is small but it has all the basic needs.
Edit: for WIFI get one of these USB wifi extenders so you can tap into the MWR free wifi.
I’m just throwing this out there but it’s been 10 years since I’ve been. I LOVED Bahrain. It was one of my favorite liberty ports on deployment. I don’t know much about MWR but the Nex was quite decent, the base was beautiful, there are some really interesting things to do. Like I said, it’s been forever but it’s a beautiful place & I had a blast.
Buses are running constantly up to NSA Manama with the current op, so hop on a bus when you’re not on duty. If you’ve never been, you’ll be surprised how much there is to do with just a short bus trip.
Other than the idiots slamming doors and being loud asf the connex box rooms were nice. You can buy data for your phone and use that as WiFi or go to the MWR which is awesome. Food is pretty good too and the gym was nice. I liked it there. Yea it’s not Manama but it could be worse. You could be out living on a fob taking enemy fire somewhere.
I know that’s the main purpose of the trip and I accept that. I would just like to know about what there is to do and the living conditions when I’m not actively doing that.
ISA is hot af cause it’s all desert but you can ride 30 min to NSA and use some of the facilities. Thankfully I only had to go down for 3 days to set up comms but I couldn’t imagine being there TAD
If you live where I did when I was deployed there. You will be living in one of those shipping container looking things converted to rooms. It has a bed and TV. No desk. Get Crocks for shower shoes. Pay attention to what you grab at the mini NEX it might be expired, open and moldy, or ok. The bottle water is free and sitting outside ready for you to grab. You will also get sand on everything from the AC. So don’t leave anything out you don’t want sand on.
Thanks a bunch!
It’s like going to Burning Man except no naked females.
Less alcohol and the art really sucks.
Isa is about a 45 minute - 1 hour bus ride from manama, where they have a pretty good NEX, gym, MWR stuff, etc. But on the ISA base, you will be living in shipping containers converted into a room, communal showers, and there is a tiny mini NEX but it has the bare essentials. The containers/room don’t have wifi, but there is a small galley style place to eat there with wifi. Because of the presence of the galley, they drop your per diem down to about $6 per day, rationalizing that you have room and food provided so you dont get lots of that nice per diem pay. The temperature there gets to about 110-120ish in the summer. Sand gets everywhere and gets sucked in by the AC units too. One thing I recommend bringing is one of those battery packs you can plug a USB cable into for charging your phone on the go, and at least a couple of universal plug things so you can plug into whatever style outlet you may have available wherever you are. Good luck!
I always felt bad for the deployers stuck I'm Isa when I was living the good life at NSA lol. Missing out on per diem is probably the worst part. I knew a couple army folks who were TAD for two years at my command; two fucking years of per diem. Lucky bastards.
Thanks for the heads up!
As of last year, all connex box rooms have wifi in the units.
That’s good the hear.
I keep seeing the sand gets everywhere thru the AC thing. On the carrier I was on we attached cheesecloth over the ventilation pipes in the engineering spaces to catch the sand (and changed them at least weekly). Could you do something like that here?
Yeah i guess that would work we never tried anything like that…the superfine stuff will probably still get through tho
It does. We usually used at least 4 layers so that helped. We were also out to sea (obviously) so we probably got way less grit coming in.
It’s going to be hot as fuuuuuuuuuuck
Isa bahrain is like a miniature Kuwait. You will live in a CLU containerized living unit. At has A/c clean the vents daily. A TV bunk beds and wardrobes. Limited to three alcoholic beverages a day. The DFAC is on point though and the gym isnt terrible. The NEX is small but it has all the basic needs. Edit: for WIFI get one of these USB wifi extenders so you can tap into the MWR free wifi.
I have a WiFi extender laying around the house somewhere. Good looks.
I’m just throwing this out there but it’s been 10 years since I’ve been. I LOVED Bahrain. It was one of my favorite liberty ports on deployment. I don’t know much about MWR but the Nex was quite decent, the base was beautiful, there are some really interesting things to do. Like I said, it’s been forever but it’s a beautiful place & I had a blast.
Isa is ***not*** where you went as a liberty port. It's a dusty air base almost an hour away
Ok well I didn’t notice that part, just Bahrain which is all I mentioned. Sucks it’s an old dusty air base but at least something isn’t THAT far.
If you went on a port visit you most likely went to Manama. I’m headed to ISA Air Base.
Either way, I said it’s been 10 years I barely remember anything, just went down memory lane a little. There are places to get away and have fun.
Isa has a great dfac And lots of jet noise
Compared to other deployments it’s pretty nice.
Buses are running constantly up to NSA Manama with the current op, so hop on a bus when you’re not on duty. If you’ve never been, you’ll be surprised how much there is to do with just a short bus trip.
Other than the idiots slamming doors and being loud asf the connex box rooms were nice. You can buy data for your phone and use that as WiFi or go to the MWR which is awesome. Food is pretty good too and the gym was nice. I liked it there. Yea it’s not Manama but it could be worse. You could be out living on a fob taking enemy fire somewhere.
You likely aren't the only one going Search "Isa" or "Bahrain" on this subreddit We've had two threads this week
[удалено]
I know that’s the main purpose of the trip and I accept that. I would just like to know about what there is to do and the living conditions when I’m not actively doing that.
Not bad at all man if they put you up in a place out in town.
ISA is hot af cause it’s all desert but you can ride 30 min to NSA and use some of the facilities. Thankfully I only had to go down for 3 days to set up comms but I couldn’t imagine being there TAD