My nephew is a lance corporal in FAST company, and is currently on a plane headed to deployment in Bahrain. For my own curiosity, have any of y'all spent time there? What's it like there?

It has been a couple of decades since I've been there and I've forgotten a lot of the details, but three things to see that immediately come to mind are the Gold Suq, the Tree of Life, and all the prehistoric graves just outside of town.

Also, when I was there the Holiday Inn (it was a really nice hotel) had "American night", which was a huge steak buffet and country music sung by a couple of Aussies. I remember an amazing Indian restaurant in town as well.

Edit to add: The country itself is really small. I think you can travel its length in under an hour. The sand is really fine and gets into everything, and from what I saw, beneath that thin layer of sand is stone. I liked the city of Manama. It was a typical big city, but its downtown was clean and well kept since it was a regional tourist hub.

I was there seven years ago. The Naval Support Activity (the base) is not a bad place at all though small and behind high fences. Bahrain is at the end of a causeway that connects it to Saudi Arabia. Bahrain is where Saudis go to relax outside the view of the religious police. Women can drive legally in Bahrain and can let the veil down a bit more than they can in Saudi Arabia. It is a dictatorship in that the Emir just rules by decree and changes his mind often. The emir and ruling class are Sunnis but the majority of Bahrainis are Shia and they tried to have an Arab Spring uprising a few years ago and it did not end happily for the protesting Shia.

During the brief time I was there the emir decided that alcohol could only be served at restaurants and hotels that had at least three stars because the availability at lower end establishments was resulting in a negative image of Bahrain. I can't really figure that one out because I heard it said more than once that the Saudis view Bahrain like some people view Las Vegas i.e. the saying was that Allah cannot see into Bahrain.

I did not visit the Gold Suq but I really came to like the silk rugs that were for sale there. I never cared at all about rugs before seeing some of the ones for sale there that had over a million hand tied knots. Believe it or not there is a Mexican restaurant there this is not half bad and actually had live mariachi music.

Visiting the "tree of life" was amusing because after a twenty mile ride south of Manama into the desert what you find is one big ass Mesquite tree inside a fenced area. It's probably not a Mesquite tree but it looks a lot like one. There are little shelters around it where the locals pray and meditate.

Ulysses90 hit the nail on the head. I was there - with my family from 2000-2005 (was there during 9/11).
If you want additional information I would be glad to respond to a PM as I still maintain contacts there.