Christmas Dinner in the Army - Road Trip to Iraq - March 2003.

Ain't this somethin'?  I remember a few Christmas' like these guys are experiencing and can tell you quite honestly they were the best ever.  The sun is setting and there's a warm fire.  You'll notice the two on the right are leaning up against a "HESCO," a prefabricated, multi-cellular system, made of Zinc coated steel welded mesh and lined with non-woven polypropylene geotextile - then we fill it with dirt or sand.  Simply said, modern day, above ground things that stop bullets and RPGs.  On the left you can see where their food came from - they got some hot "A's," (i.e., regular food in 'mermite' containers') that are sitting on the cot.   Mermite containers are like those boxes that keep pizza warm when it's delivered but do a little better job of it.  But it's Christmas - you're with your buds.  No screaming hot metal flying around in the air.  It's not home, it's not the best place you'll ever find yourself.  But it's good.  It sucks for sure, but it's all good.

 

Shared hardships breed a comaraderie that few civilians will ever understand.  It's not just the "getting shot at" thing.  It's not just shared dangers.  It's not about that dead animal in the road up ahead that may be hiding an explosive device inside or the overpass you're driving on could blow up with such force that it will throw a HUMVV into the air and crush everyone inside.

It is in many cases shared "suck."  It sucks because it sucks.  We're here in it so just enjoy the suck.  It will eventually get better with either time or the enemy deciding they are fighting a lost cause and run back to their hideouts (because they are afraid to fight) in the mountains or to the next country over.  Or better yet, finally give permission to the women of their land to join in the Jidahist movement and become homicide bombers.  What a great place huh? 

It sucked early on for those of us in the ACP (Assault Command Post) for the 101st Division Headquarters.  We were in Kuwait for a good while in anticipation of an invasion.  Not sure what was happening but we were sure there were some last minute negotiations going on in hopes that maybe it wouldn't have to happen.  We knew better though.  So here we were on Camp New Jersey and it is in the middle of the desert.  No roads, no trees, no people (except the U.S. Army).  (Picture of New Jersey is right).  We were living in tents lined up along a pathway and it was so windy and sandy that you had to use a flashlight just to go from one tent to another.  I walked in the first night and there in my assigned tent were alot of Brigade liaison guys obviously very miserable.  And they got there only the day before. 

I got a cot and put my stuff under it and went to the Command Post.  What a mess!  Computers everywhere in this big tent with holes in it all over the place.  You had to hang your web gear and flak vests in an entrance way where a guy checked your ID Card.  So much dust was blowing when I got there the first night that they were using paint brushes to clean off their laptops.  I got stuck in the back with the Special Forces Guys which turned out to be all right and also got my first introduction to Brigadier General Ben Freakley.  A soon to be hero of mine.  Never started work without having me say a prayer...He's a hard-core Methodist Christian and lived that way every day. 

But as I continue to digress and the ADHD prompts me further, it was fairly business as usual if you consider that using outside job-johnnies for a toilet - not that big of a deal you say?  Have you ever had to use one with your full 'battle-rattle' with you?  Battle-rattle?  Web gear, gas mask, helmet, flak vest, flashlight, etc.  Do you know how hard it is to get in there and take that stuff off just to sit down?  Then, when it's off, where do you put it?  The messhall was a good 3/4 of a mile away and you had to walk there.  No wasting fuel. (picture to the left).  And of course you do not get to take your battle-rattle off when you eat.  There was a large cooking tent there where everything was prepared by foreigners the Kuwaiti government brought in.  Lots of Pakistanis, Bangladesh people who if they got paid it was almost nothing.  Most of them volunteered to come over so they could make enough money for a dowery so they could get a wife.  So we're on our merry way when one night it got unusually windy.  Sand was really kicking up and we did our best to button down the sleep tent and ensure the stakes were in deep enough to keep it from blowing over.  We thought we had it beat so got in our cots in hopes of getting a modicum of sleep.  Not the case.  The wind was really kicking and about 0100 I felt something brushing up against my nose.  Odd feeling so I stuck my little head outside the sleeping bag and saw nothing but pitch black darkness.  I lifted my head a little to look around for everyone else and bumped into what seemed like a piece of wood.  Turns out it was the inside beam of the tent.  The wind was blowing so hard it yanked out a couple of the stakes and the thing was slowly pulling the tent down. 

I yelled to the guys and we high-tailed it outside (you always slept dressed), to see what we could do.  We did our best to pull up the beams and somehow strengthen the tent a little until we could fix it in daylight.  We got it secured but it was a pain - especially since the wind is still blowing.  Wonder how dark and how much sand there was?  Check out the lamp we lit in the picture to the right.  That was taken about 0200 INSIDE the tent - note the sand.  Great sleeping weather!  People wonder why my sinuses act up and I'm the occasional grump.   We had trouble embracing this "suck."