During my deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan I saw many dust storms (aka Haboobs). But this one from March or April of 2010 was the most memorable.
I am a weather forecaster.
So I suppose I should have (literally) seen this coming.
But what you have to understand about a place like Iraq in the spring or early summer is that these Haboobs are possible on any given day.
The problem is, every thunderstorm (even severe) does not always result in the formation of a Haboob. (btw, that word makes some people mad here in Arizona).
On this particular day, even though there were thunderstorms in the distance, I went to the chow hall for lunch.
That was mistake #1
So while I happily sat at the chow hall munching down on a panini sandwich, potato salad, and two servings of lemon cake, a thunderstorm was collapsing about 50 miles away. Its gust front moved across an area of fine particulate dust, picked it up high into the atmosphere, then continued moving in our direction.
By the time I walked out of the DFAC (dinning facility), the view on the horizon looked liked a scene right out of the mummy. There were layers of white clouds on top, then the brown dust, and then closest to the ground it was pitch black, with lightning bolts occasionally shooting out of the clouds.
I wish I could show you a picture instead of just describing it, but for some reason I had left my phone/camera behind when I went to lunch that day. (the awesome picture at the start of this post was “borrowed” from one of my coworkers who stayed at the office during lunch).
This much more recent shot of a Haboob here in Arizona will give you and idea
But the one in Iraq was so much worse. That’s when I made …
Mistake #2
Now a sensible person upon seeing the apocalyptic scene in front of him would have simply turned around and gone back into the DFAC to wait the storm out.
But alas, I was not a sensible person.
My CHU (compartmentalize housing unit) was about a mile and half from the DFAC. For some ungodly reason I decided that I was going run as fast as I could back to my CHU (I think I wanted to grab my camera) before the wall of dust arrived.
At this time I was a 40 year old Air Force Master Sergeant.
I was NOT a fast runner.
But off I bolted none-the-less, at what felt to me like a sprint, but would probably appear to most observers as a brisk jog. The Haboob kept getting closer and closer, while the distance between me and my CHU didn’t seem to change at all.
It soon became obvious that I was not going to make it.
But I was already half way between my CHU and the DFAC. Turning around didn’t make sense, so on I pressed, right towards the massive wall of dust.
Mistake #3
When the wall of dust arrived at my location, I was already gasping for breath. Remember, I was a slightly out of shape 40 year old who’d just been “sprinting”.
My desperate gasps were not rewarded with fresh air.
Instead, I sucked down what felt like buckets full of nasty brown dust and sand.
I attempted to pull my t-shirt up over my mouth as I pressed on. But it really didn’t seem to make much difference. For 7 or 8 more minutes I was sucking in more dust than air.
By the time I finally arrived back at my CHU, all I could do was collapse on the floor, coughing and wheezing. I’ll spare you the details of the next 45 minutes or so, but let’s just say that emptying the contents of my little trash can later that evening was another not so fun adventure.
This is going to make it clear how much of a FOBBIT (someone who rarely or never goes outside the wire) I was during my deployments. But that was quite likely the closest I came to dying during my two trips to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.
But who knows how much depleted uranium and other crazy stuff (the remains of “chemical Ali”’s lab was nearby) was in all that dust I sucked in.
It may still get me yet.
But probably not.
I think I’ve got a good additional 30 years or so left in me.
Well, I think that about wraps things up for today. But I’ve got plenty more stories to tell from my time in the military … and most of those will have pictures to go with them.
Do you have any good “war” (or other) stories of your own?
Please feel free to share:
Til next time!
Todd