Oklee native Cole Mickelson invited by the USO to perform for troops in Qatar

Cole Ellick Mickelson, who was raised and attended school in Oklee says he had the opportunity of his lifetime. He is now back from his big trip to the Middle East for St Patrick’s Day. He was contacted to play guitar with the Wild Colonial Bhoys on an Air Force base in Qatar to give the troops stationed there a little R & R for the big holiday with some Irish music. 

This is what he had to say about this awesome trip to the Persian Gulf.  

 I didn’t know much about Qatar before I was contacted by the USO and asked to play a show so I did a little research.  I knew it was a little country next to Saudi Arabia and that it will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but honestly that was the extent of my knowledge. 

As I learned, Qatar has the highest per capita income in the world, with the average Qatari earning $145,000 a year.  Qataris wear the whitest white clothes I have ever seen. I didn’t see any police or patrols during my stay.  They seemed to be following rules of their beliefs. Qatar is home to a large shared military installation situated about 30 miles outside the capital city of Doha.  It is called “al Udeid” (pronounced al you deed) and is called the “Deed” by many of the troops stationed there, who were very warm and friendly.

The base is huge, and is primarily an Air Force installation.  There are about 9,000 troops stationed there, including not only Americans but also Brits, Aussies, French and a handful of others.  We were on the American portion of the base, eating at their cafeteria where the troops shared many things so we learned that the bulk of the personnel belong to National Guard units.  They are typically stationed there for six to twelve months, and then rotate home.

As you can probably imagine, days in the hot desert can become unappealing pretty quickly, and I think the troops really appreciate entertainment from back home.  We encountered such a warm welcome there, I was truly touched.  

We were scheduled to play one show, and to be on the ground for a total of three days. Travel time from Minneapolis/St. Paul would last a little over 24 hours each way. From the Twin Cities we went to Chicago, then to Frankfurt, Germany, on to Kuwait from there and finally Doha, Qatar. Quite a trip! It wasn’t so bad though, and I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up on a lot of movie watching and thinking.  

Our show was scheduled for the day after we landed. We got in locally at about 11pm, so we were able to pretty much get right to bed and prepare for the next night. The show went very well, and there were a plenty of people there who share Irish descent so I think they all had a nice time too! We played a lot of the “pub standard” Irish songs, and had a lot of clapping along and genuine applause, which I always take as good indicators of a successful gig. We even had a guest star on stage with us who sang along, as he knew the band from back home.

After the gig we had a great opportunity to meet a lot of the crowd, which is always fun. There were plenty of Minnesotans in the crowd, along with a number of Pennsylvanians and people from all over the southern states. The show is of course the main focus of a trip like this, but some highlights for me were to come the following day.  We had a guided tour of the base, which I found incredible. We were able to see a number of different areas and meet the people who worked there, including the flight line and several airplanes belonging to the Iowa and Nebraska National Guard, the K¬9 unit of the Security Forces (the Air Force version of MPs), the base armory, a Patriot missile battery and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit.  

These men and women are very proud of what they do, and rightfully so. It was such a joy to meet them and learn about their jobs that they perform so courageously, so far away from their families, every day.  

The following night was already time to go home, believe it or not.  We had a midnight flight, so our hosts drove us off base at around 3pm local time for a trip into Doha and a nice dinner. In Doha we saw a number of interesting sites, did some shopping in the souks (the outdoor marketplace) and marveled at the amazing architecture. 

I was impressed to see quite a few luxury cars on the roads, from Bentleys to Ferraris. Qatar has the third largest oil reserves on the planet and it definitely shows.  

After a great dinner at a Trader Vic’s franchise in the Hilton it was time to head back to the airport and home (eventually!).  

I hit three continents, like 10,000 miles in 24 hours of travel.

After 4 take-offs, 4 landings, 3 security checks, 3 meals, 3 planes, 2 trams, 2 bag checks, 2 claims, 1 sniff dog, 2 custom checks, we were back home. Thanks so much Al Udeid Air Base for the hospitality. 

After all of that travel it was great to be home, but I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go!  I’d love a chance to go again, so who knows!

Learn more about the Wild Colonial Bhoys (a Celtic rock tour-de-force) at www.wildcolonialbhoys.com.