Here is one more comforting thought. I did 3 months in Saudi Arabia back in 94/95, before the Khobar Towers bombing. Oct 94 Sadam put about 60k troops on the border to Saudi, not far from where I was stationed. I was quite disappointed. I got absolutley no trigger time, but I did develope a mean game of Spades waiting for my chance. Your son will have a lot of free time out of harms way. Send him a deck of cards or two. He will need them. I know we could never fond a pack at the shoppette.