In April 2003, I said goodbye to my husband and children before leaving for Kuwait on a 12-month hardship tour. It was to be at least six months before mid-tour, if leave would be allowed by then. Checked in, and caught Lufthansa out of Frankfurt. Ever have one of those dreams in which you taxi forever and go nowhere? This was one of those off the end of the earth type experiences. With that, U.S. Army Physician Holly Doyne departed Germany for an assignment to Camp Doha as Command Surgeon, ARCENT-Kuwait, for what became a prolonged tour. This is her record of that time. It is about battling with the heat and the dust in the desert. It is about ordered chaos and confusion tempered with caring. It is a warm and lively account by a determined and compassionate physician who went to conquer, assigned to a location where making a difference really mattered.