Dust
storms, sun take toll on soldiers in Iraq
By Capt. H.R. Grimm
Columnist
The
intensity of dust storms have grounded flights and convoys for days with visibility
of less than a quarter mile.
No mail arrives, no evacuations take place
and no convoys move as the heat grinds the dust into every nook and cranny.
Soldiers
who are housed in tents fight with poles and straps that are loosened by the constant
wind. Soldiers who are housed or work in buildings re-caulk and re-tape every
window and door against dust, sand, camel spider, scorpion or other unwanted visitors.
The
ground seems to move under one's feet as the shifting sands fill the slightest
corner or depression into snow like drifts.
It is an eerie sci-fi scene
with Soldiers meandering around with scarved and goggled faces bracing against
the wind, heat and dust.
Life is ground to a slowness so that even the locals
know better than to venture out into the day.
Then there are the bad days.
Days when it is only the sunshine with its unrelenting heat bearing down promising
to suck the very life out of anyone who has failed to hydrate themselves.
These
are the days when convoys are driving down the highways and patrols are out looking
for bomb making locations and attempting to gain against the insurgents' planting
of IEDs.
The local population is going to market and, amid this sea of humanity,
insurgents are able to blend into the fray firing off mortars, attacking with
VBIED and milling into crowds of civilians as suicide bombers.
All of this
makes the reality of casualties a more likely possibility.
My civilian friends,
don't complain about the rain or humidity or the temperature or the traffic or
even the long line at your local store.
Trust me, what is considered a bad
day in the states is better than a Soldier's good day here.
Originally published
July 22, 2005
Source
