Dust Storm in Western Iraq
I thought you all might like to see pics of the BIG dust storm that covered us up from late last night until the present. EVERYTHING is covered in a fine red dust, and I mean INSIDE as well as outside. I have to wipe off my computer every hour or so. The covers on my bed are turning red.... can't wait to snuggle up in there tonight!
Pictures (these were all taken in and around the CMOC at about 1100 today, when the sun *should* be almost at its brightest):
"Papa Top" and Samir the interpreter inside the CMOC. Notice the light, or lack thereof (normally this passageway is flooded with sunlight). Papa Top is a Vietnam-era Marine (with some broken time), lives in Tennessee, and is the captain of the USMC Reserve Rifle Team (good guy to have around if you're intendin' on shootin' somebody). Samir is an Egyptian doctor who took a break from doctorin' in Egypt to do some 'terping for us.
Here's a shot of our rooftop from the "boxing ring" courtyard. Those stairs are how I get up to my post when the muj start misbehaving and we have to go to general quarters. Those small directional antennas are our phone and internet links ... they shoot to a bigger antenna back at Camp Fallujah. The other one is our VHF radio antenna, and is omni-directional.
That's THE SUN (look closely near the center of the picture and you can see it).
A view of our parking lot looking west. Those light towers used to light up a basketball court. Can you believe that? I guess Bill Clinton's "midnight basketball" youth engagement plan made it all the way to Fallujah
This is looking north towards one of the security posts a couple hundred meters from our back door (the small dark blotch near the center of the picture). I zoomed in a little so you could see the post. It was barely visible to the naked eye. Luckily, Mr. Ali Baba the muj hates the dust just as much as we do, and, for the most part, he stays home with his rifle and RPG at times like this.
Pictures (these were all taken in and around the CMOC at about 1100 today, when the sun *should* be almost at its brightest):
"Papa Top" and Samir the interpreter inside the CMOC. Notice the light, or lack thereof (normally this passageway is flooded with sunlight). Papa Top is a Vietnam-era Marine (with some broken time), lives in Tennessee, and is the captain of the USMC Reserve Rifle Team (good guy to have around if you're intendin' on shootin' somebody). Samir is an Egyptian doctor who took a break from doctorin' in Egypt to do some 'terping for us.
Here's a shot of our rooftop from the "boxing ring" courtyard. Those stairs are how I get up to my post when the muj start misbehaving and we have to go to general quarters. Those small directional antennas are our phone and internet links ... they shoot to a bigger antenna back at Camp Fallujah. The other one is our VHF radio antenna, and is omni-directional.
That's THE SUN (look closely near the center of the picture and you can see it).
A view of our parking lot looking west. Those light towers used to light up a basketball court. Can you believe that? I guess Bill Clinton's "midnight basketball" youth engagement plan made it all the way to Fallujah
This is looking north towards one of the security posts a couple hundred meters from our back door (the small dark blotch near the center of the picture). I zoomed in a little so you could see the post. It was barely visible to the naked eye. Luckily, Mr. Ali Baba the muj hates the dust just as much as we do, and, for the most part, he stays home with his rifle and RPG at times like this.
posted by Stingray at 13:28
1 Comments:
Thanks so much for sharing your time in Iraq with us and thank you for being there away from your family so we can be safe here at home. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all military. I am a wife of retired army (22) and mother in law to army guy thats on his second tour in Iraq.
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