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May 30, 2005 Author Note: (I wrote this as the tent I was sitting in was threatening to take flight. I am too lazy at the moment to put this is past tense, but it is almost 4 weeks old now.) Wow! The wind is really kicking today. All flights cancelled yesterday because Iraq’s Mother Nature kicked a lot of sand in the face of their sun god. Today isn’t a whole lot different. I have been waiting in this passenger terminal from heck for two days, and now, maybe a third. The choppers do not fly well through walls of blowing sand. The mission went well here, but now it is time to move and I cannot. Oh, I could easily have flown my first day here, yet circumstances quickly conspired to keep me grounded and looking for a decent meal. Yep. That’s right. It has been back to the MRE’s for three days! One can only eat so much vegetable Manicotti, veggie burger in barbeque sauce and chicken Cavatelli before desiring real meat, cheese and a Pepsi! I sit here in tent A-3 wondering how it is managing to remain in place. The wind isn’t howling. I believe you need windbreaks like tree stands (Anyone around here see a tree?) or mountain passes to get the sound of howling. Here, you just get smacked in the kisser with handfuls of sand once you venture past the protective canvas. I have been wondering about the beef snack I have been munching on too. Ingredients include: Beef, water, Pasteurized, processed cheese food, salt, sodium citrate, brown sugar, wheat protein isolate, inulin, natural chicory extract, hydrolyzed corn and good old sodium erythorbate. Naturally, everything tastes much better with good old, sodium erythorbate. Ah, the wonderful world of chemicals! We have a real eye-closer coming! The sky is something I’ve never seen before and it is coming hard and fast to close us in. I am told that there could be hail with it. There has been rain (some) but it has been mostly wind. If this sandstorm doesn’t peter out by 8 PM, I will probably sustain another flight cancellation and another lost day. Most travel days here are just that. It can take a couple of days just to travel 60 miles because I must go by air. The ground is very unforgiving of those who travel the roads without the protections of personal armor or the advantage of being native. I am wearing my “Philadelphia Eagles” shirt today. I doubt there are many “Eagles” fans in this neck of the woods. (Woods; what woods?) Speaking of “Eagles”; I read Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens are dumping on each other. That’s just great! Next season the “Eagles” will be 2-14 and Andy Reid will get fired. And that’s Philadelphia sports, folks! EPILOGUE: The sandstorm ended about 2 AM. The sudden quiet woke me up and I had to visit Mr. Tidy-Bowl. When I reported to the operations tent at 6 AM there was a flight only 20 minutes out. By 9:30 AM I was on the ground at my new stop. It was an almost uneventful flight, but the pilot saw something that required a closer look near ground level. He promptly dipped the chopper, confirmed what he thought he had seen; determined all was right with the world and moved on. ------------ About the Author: Michael John McCrae has contributed over 300 articles to Useless-Knowledge.com. Email: macswordV@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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