The Official Tour Blog of Cobra Golf

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the tenth in a series of updates from his travels.

November 29, 2009 Our second stop on this day would be to Camp Carver. We reached this location after a 15-minute helicopter ride from FOB Hammer. As we approached you could see a nice big wall around the entire facility. We had been told earlier that Hammer and Carver were set up so the troops could move out of Baghdad.

When we got off the choppers we met Lt. Colonel Rich Greene and CSM (Command Sergeant Major) Ben Jones. I knew in a hurry this stop was going to be special. We were met by a large group of soldiers and you could tell they were eager to see some golf balls get in the air. As I shook the hand of Lt. Colonel Greene, I instantly knew he was not someone to mess around with. He is made of re-bar, laser beams and a super duper electronic chip. Wrap all that together and plug it into a heart the size of Texas and you have the man who was hurting my hand.

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the ninth in a series of updates from his travels.

November 28, 2009 Tuesday started to the sound of machine gun fire. Yeah, just a normal day for me off in Southwest Missouri. I have come to expect seeing a lot of things that are out of my daily norm. As I peeked out through my curtains I could see a fog hanging over the lake and I ran out to get some pictures. It was so beautiful to see. I almost forgot for a few seconds I was 7,000 miles from home.

We started our day at headquarters meeting again briefly with General Anderson and then we got to go to General Odierno’s office to get a short brief on the progress that has been made in Iraq over the past two years.

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the eighth in a series of updates from his travels.

November 27, 2009 Sunday started a bit earlier than I was hoping. After going to bed three and a half hours earlier, the 3:30 wakeup call was not something I was anxious to take part in. I know, what a baby. We rolled out of Arifjan at 4 a.m. and headed out for the hour and a half trip up the road to a camp I can’t remember; I just remember mean-looking guards at the gate and that it was very dark.

It was there we got on a C130 to fly to Baghdad. Before we boarded the plane they told us it was time to put on our vest and helmet.

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the seventh in a series of updates from his travels.

November 25, 2009 This is now our sixth day into the trip. I have spoken to my wife fewer than 30 minutes since we left and I think I have spoken to my kids for less than five minutes. The busy schedule and nine-hour time change has made it difficult to communicate.

Our day starts 10 minutes from our hotel with a trip to see the “Victory over America” palace. This bombed-out monstrosity is located on the grounds of Camp Slayer and could be the single biggest selfish waste of wealth I have ever seen. The area it is located in was a recreational retreat for Iraqi leaders, much like our President’s Camp David.

If you have ever sat at home and cringed during a loud thunder and lightning storm you would not have wanted to be near this place when U.S. Forces decided to give it an “open air” look.

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the sixth in a series of updates from his travels.

November 23, 2009 When I got up today I had no idea we would be in a vehicle for six hours between three different Army camps. Our fearless leader Rick told us to meet and be ready to go at 9:45 a.m. Thus, he deceived me into thinking the trip would be on my normal business hours. I was excited because I knew I could be up and out by 9:45. Little did I know that would be the last of those kinds of departures for quite some time. I am finding that he is a very sneaky man and he is really only thinking of the troops. His concern for our sleep and time is way down on his priority list. I heard him mention something about “we gotta suck it up.” I don’t like him very much.

Cobra Staff member and Golf Entertainer/World Long Drive Champion, Dan Boever, is visiting Iraq on a goodwill tour to meet with the troops. This is the fifth in a series of updates from his travels.

November 22, 2009 I am up, not because I am an early riser but because I can’t sleep and my body has no idea what time it is. I thought I had planned everything perfectly. I would go to sleep right after takeoff (which I did) sleep for seven or eight hours (which I did) and then be ready to go to sleep around midnight Kuwait time (which I did not). It was more like 3:15 a.m. when I finally shut out the lights.

Most of Saturday for me was effectively gone when I got onto the bus because of all the hoops we had to jump through upon arrival here. Fortunately Rick Kell (our host and main man at Troops First Foundation) is very thorough and he has us all taken care of (with some special help from his wonderful daughter Lindsey). Rick is a man who has a heart for the troops and their families and I am honored to now call him my friend. He has been over some 15 times so he had things worked out for us to move as quickly through all the paperwork as possible. The Troops First Foundation is an organization that has come to life from Rick’s early visions about helping troops and their families.