Bad Day: More from Rob in Iraq
Posted by Michelle on May 18, 2003 in Michelle
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It is about 0009 on Sunday and I am having trouble sleeping, so I though
I would write an email about my day.
Yesterday, for those of you who didn’t know it, was Armed Forces Day.
It was suppose to be a holiday of sorts around here. We have not had a
day off since we arrived in Kuwait 7 weeks ago, so we were looking
forward to today. The first fun activity was a 5k run this morning.
The idea was that there is nothing to do that is more fun than getting
up early to run in the desert. I did not participate in this event.
Instead, like most people do on Saturdays or holidays, I went into work.
Around midday we heard there was a health fair going on near the PX.
They would weigh you and tell you how much weight you lost since getting
here and how to avoid getting malaria. This sounded like great fun, so
me and my Command Judge Advocate walked the half a mile to the PX to
participate. I was real excited because with the half a mile walk in
110 degree weather, I was sure I had lost some more weight. To our
disappointment, when we got there the health fair was already closed.
We ventured back to work where we learned two wonderful pieces of news.
First, there was no mail for the unit. This was the third day in a row
that there was no mail. And second, there would be no ice. This was
for the fourth day in a row. Lack of ice does not sound that bad until
you try to live in the desert. You see, you dehydrate from the moment
you get up in the morning to the moment you go to bed at night.
Consequently, you have to drink liters of water all day. If there is no
ice, you end up drinking hot water all day.
Later on in the day, one of my soldiers came into the office, needing
someone to drive her to the hospital for what she called the “butt flu”.
I went to dispatch the JAG vehicle and meet one of our cooks in the
office. She was also sick so I drove both of them to the hospital and
waited for them. They gave my soldier some medicine and keep the cook
overnight for observation. By the time we got back, it was near the end
of chow and there was nothing left. This is usually not a big deal,
missing one meal, except the unit decided that since the cooks were
dropping like flies in this heat, there would be no more hot meals until
we got some ice on a regular bases. So I missed the last hot meal for
who knows how long.
While I was at the hospital, an engineer I was sitting near told me that
a method of cooling water and drinks was to put the bottle or can in a
tube sock and soak the sock in water. He said it would not make the
liquid cold, but would cool it off some. Being at the end of my rope, I
decided to use a pair of tube socks, a cooler, and some Pepsi I had
boiling under my bed, and try this idea. To my surprise, it works, with
only the slightest aftertaste of tainted water and Hanes.
 A new bed for Rob, they found the frame |
It was about 10pm and I was getting ready to shower. Behind our tent,
one of the soldiers in our tent had built a makeshift shower. This
makes life a whole lot easier, since the shower point is about a quarter
of a mile away. Just before I went our to take a shower, I was talking
to the guys in the tent about what a terrible day it had been. I said
to the guys “You know what would make this perfect right now, you know
what I would love … a sandstorm”. Not 10 seconds after I said that,
we got hit with a sandstorm. Within seconds, the tent was filled with
sand. As we began to zip up the flaps of the tent, I began to go nuts,
cussing and screaming. About that time, the one light bulb we have in
the tent (the other shorted out a long time ago) began to dim. And the
it went out, the fan stopped, and we heard the generator die. So now we
were sitting in the dark when we hear a crash. It was the makeshift
shower crashing to the ground into a million pieces. I decided that I
was going to give the storm, ten minutes and then, storm or no storm, I
was walking to the shower point. I began to announce this loudly to
everyone in the tent, as I paced up and down looking at my watch with my
mini mag light. After 10 minutes, I grabbed my soap, my mini mag, my
towel, and my washrag and walked to the shower point. I covered my face
with my washrag and went up to the sign-in table. I signed in and took
my shower.
After the shower, I put my washrag in the middle of my towel, rolled the
towel, rapped it around my face, and began walking back to my tent. I
had my flashlight out when I heard a dog barking. This base has packs
of wild dogs around that will attack humans. I thought to myself “This
can’t be happening, somebody is out there messing with me, pretending to
be a dog as some kind of joke”. But then I thought “Who in the hell
would come out in a sandstorm, sit near the burms, and hope someone
would come in that direction from the shower point so that they could
pretend to be a dog”. I shined my light over in the same direction
again, and then this time heard multiple dogs barking. At this point I
started walking back to the shower point, when I decided to brave the
dogs and try to get back to the tent. The moment I shined the light in
that direction, I heard multiple dogs barking and running. Hearing
this, I took off, with my towel rapped around my face and took the long
way back, behind the mess tents and near our main buildings. I made it
to the tent unscathed, but dirtier than when I left for the shower.
So I am now I can’t sleep in our tent because it is as hot as a sauna.
This has been a bad day, even for Iraq. Hopefully tomorrow will be
better.
Followup from the next day:
We had a memorial service this morning for our comrade who did not make
it through the sandstorm last night … our field shower. He gave his
life so that others could be clean. Buddy, we hardly knew ya.
