Chris' Blog

"A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything." -Laurence Sterne

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Sandstorm

I apologize for having not posted in while, but I've been terribly busy... not to mention the fact that nothing of interest has happened in quite some time.

I guess I shouldn't say that nothing interesting has happened. Not too long ago we had a fairly violent sandstorm. I was on my way back to our camp and saw it cross the desert in front of me. The picture below was taken by someone in the camp right before the storm hit. It was quite the sight to behold.

When I arrived at camp, my tent looked fine from the outside. When I went inside, it looked as though the storm had taken a detour through my living area. The 80-100mph winds had shaken the walls of the tent so badly that anything within a foot or two of them was knocked over and anything hanging from them was thrown off. The wind also ripped the door open and sand and dust covered everything. I wish I would've taken a picture before I started cleaning, because it was quite the sight.

I can't complain too much though, because there were those here who had it far worse than I. For example, one soldier was in a porta-john when a gust blew it down. It fell onto the door and the mysterious blue liquid and it's contents covered the soldier. As he was trying to exit, the wind blew so hard that the crapper started rolling down the street. When it stopped rolling, it rested once again on the door. The soldier eventually had to kick out the bottom of the john to get out.

After showering, this unfortunate fellow came in to the clinic to have his bumps, bruises, and cuts looked at. He was given some antibiotics to prevent infection. He's OK now, but will probably always be remembered as the guy that got "smurfed" in the windstorm.


Here it comes. Posted by Hello

Friday, May 13, 2005

Friday Night Fights

Well, I have been extremely busy lately. My roomate has taken his R&R leave. I've now got the tent all to myself, however I now have twice the workload. He will be back in a few weeks, and he'll do the same for me when I leave, so I can't begrudge him at all. It is good experience for me to learn another job around here anyway.

I did get to relax tonight, however. Every friday night we have boxing matches. It's a big event, and an excellent morale booster. There are between 5 and 10 matches usually, and boxers of all skill levels give it a shot. It's all in good fun, and everyone (for the most part) has a good attitude and displays wonderful sportsmanship. I love to kick back in my camp chair and drink a non-alcoholic beer and smoke a Cuban (which are not illegal here and are readily available) and watch the fights.


The fights are a pretty big event here. Posted by Hello


In the ropes. Posted by Hello