Monday, June 26, 2006
Hydrate or Die
We’ve stepped up the patrolling recently. A few days ago we left for one of the longer foot patrols we’ve done in a while. We stepped off at 6:00 PM, as the sun was starting to set. The temp was probably pushing 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity was pretty close to the same levels you might experience in eastern North Carolina. In other words, it sucked. After leaping a few canals, we decided to change up the route a bit to hug the river so we could avoid the canals. An hour into the patrol, I had drained about 2.5 – 3 liters of water from my Camelbak, and sweated so much that it looked like I’d been swimming.
In the picture you can see Lt Parks and SSgt Newman taking a break as we wait for our ride back to the COP. Shortly before this picture was taken, as we made our way to the pickup point, a couple of muj (bad guys) pulled up in two cars and shot a small mortar in our direction. It was an ineffective attack, since they missed the entire patrol by over 100 meters, but unfortunately they got away clean. It was good that no friendlies were hurt in the attack, but frustrating that we weren’t able to make them pay for the attempt. Oh well, hopefully next time… ¶ Monday, June 26, 2006
We’ve stepped up the patrolling recently. A few days ago we left for one of the longer foot patrols we’ve done in a while. We stepped off at 6:00 PM, as the sun was starting to set. The temp was probably pushing 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity was pretty close to the same levels you might experience in eastern North Carolina. In other words, it sucked. After leaping a few canals, we decided to change up the route a bit to hug the river so we could avoid the canals. An hour into the patrol, I had drained about 2.5 – 3 liters of water from my Camelbak, and sweated so much that it looked like I’d been swimming.
In the picture you can see Lt Parks and SSgt Newman taking a break as we wait for our ride back to the COP. Shortly before this picture was taken, as we made our way to the pickup point, a couple of muj (bad guys) pulled up in two cars and shot a small mortar in our direction. It was an ineffective attack, since they missed the entire patrol by over 100 meters, but unfortunately they got away clean. It was good that no friendlies were hurt in the attack, but frustrating that we weren’t able to make them pay for the attempt. Oh well, hopefully next time… ¶ Monday, June 26, 2006
