It may have been lacking the green fields but yesterday a little corner of the Kuwaiti desert became part of Ireland.
More than 500 Irish Guards stationed in Kuwait took a break from war preparations to celebrate St Patrick's Day.
Hundreds of sprigs of shamrock had been picked in Cork on Sunday and flown to the Gulf to be presented to the regiment as part of a tradition stretching back to when Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, first sent a box of shamrock to the guards in 1901.
No one seemed to mind that the shamrock had already begun to wilt in the heat of the desert where 180,000 troops are gathered for an imminent war against Iraq.
Colour Sgt Tommy Cassidy from Belfast said: "It's a big morale boost for the boys because no matter where they are, Arctic, desert or jungle, whoever the visiting dignitary is, they always make a point of presenting it.
"The boys like it. I think they will have a nibble of it later and a little drink of water."
Regimental Quartermaster Sgt Paul McCarthy from Liverpool said he was the first generation of his family not to have been born in Ireland.
"That's why I joined the Irish Guards and I'm very proud to wear the shamrock," he said. "It bonds the whole regiment together, because we do come from far and wide.
"I did receive it in Poland in the middle of winter once. Out here in the desert just adds to its history. We should have the luck of the Irish with us."