Love design!!! I just came across your blog and wanted to say that Ive really...Laid Waste
Posted by Erik Rupard on March 30th, 2008
I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.—T.S. Eliot
Sundays here are NOT “groundhog days” for me. Thanks to the luxury of having both a physician and a nurse practitioner in our troop medical clinic, I am able to give LTC Bullock Saturdays off, and I take the Sundays. This means I get to sleep late one day a week, and I remained in bed until almost 8 this morning. The best thing about sleeping late here (aside from the obvious beauty of pure laziness) is the fact that an extra hour or two of “Iraq time” drifts away from me unconsciously.
Today I woke up a bit headachy, probably from sleeping too long. Breakfast was a BSC pop-tart with some Gatorade to wash it down, and then I listened to some talks as I wrote a bit, surfed the web, read, and did some minor straightening around the canister. Around noon, a couple of people needed to be dropped off at the post office (it is open seven days a week here, though sometimes no mail will be flown in for 2-3 days in a row), and I was the only available person who could drive a stick shift. The upshot of this was that I ended up having the truck to myself, which meant that I’d have a ride home from church (I usually end up walking or taking the bus). Sweet!
Church was even more reserved and quiet than usual, as there were only 11 of us there, including one lone sister and a bunch of balding (or close-shaven) men in uniform. A funny thing about having such a small congregation is that it only takes about 5 minutes to pass both the bread and the water. We then tried to watch a talk by President Hinckley, but there must have been dust in the DVD player (a chronic problem here), and the video kept getting unfixably stuck, so we eventually abandoned it, and instead we ten men and one woman enjoyed Sister Beck’s talk on “Mothers Who Know.”
The early PM was naptime, and after some reading, I fell asleep listening to George Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London,” which I downloaded from audible yesterday, and wholeheartedly recommend. Around 5:30 was dinnertime, and yet another unexpected, unique experience.
After we had eaten, I walked out into what I expected to be the typical blinding Iraqi sun, but instead the sky in front of me was dark, and behind me it seemed to be an ominous purple color. I did a double-take, and on closer inspection noted that this was not, in fact, sky at all. It was a unspeakably huge (ginormous, humongous, massive) mountain of sand, and it was rolling and billowing in our direction, with occasional lightning flashes at its edges. It is next to impossible to describe the massiveness of one of these things, and unfortunately, none of us had our cameras with us. To give you an idea, here a couple of pictures of a sandstorm over Al Asad in 2005. These pictures are very similar to what it looked like today, but do not convey the enormity of the thing, and do not quite reflect the deep purple color of today’s massive cloud.
If you look closely, you’ll notice the tiny-looking people in the forefront of these pictures; that will give you some idea as to the size of the typical Al Asad sandstorm. More (and larger) pix of this same sandstorm can be seen here.
When I pointed out to my companions that we were being stalked by a giant dust cloud, they suddenly became very wide-eyed and started literally running towards the bus, and yelling at me to do the same. I didn’t hesitate, and once we were all in, we started heading back to the canisters. Unfortunately, everyone in Al Asad had the same idea, and so we ran into a bit of a traffic jam, even as we watched this ominous thing billowing in our direction. We were about a quarter-mile away, when I saw the cloud climb over a bank of tents to our right, and come literally screaming towards our bus. A brown, sandy gust of wind hit the right side of the bus, and the force of the thing, though not enough to lift up our vehicle, was nonetheless very palpable. At that moment, everything outside of the bus suddenly went pitch black.
The blackness of a sandstorm is unlike any darkness I have experienced before. It is thick, and it is heavy. There was a car just ahead of us (maybe 10 feet), but its tail lights were absolutely gone. We slowed down to a crawl, and eventually made it to our camp. SGT Evans parked us as close to the cans as possible, with my permission to leave the bus in this not-quite-legal spot overnight. We all got up and poised ourselves for the three doors, and Evans signaled to us: “Ready? Go!” The three doors were opened up simultaneously, and we jumped out of the bus like it was about to explode, and ran towards our canisters. I could taste the dust in my mouth, and felt the grit in my eyes and my nostrils. I held my breath, kept my eyes closed to a tiny slit, fiddled with my keys and eventually opened my door just enough to slide in through the crack.
Once inside, I assessed the damage which was only minor. My glasses were covered in fine sand, and my clothes had turned a dull grey on the front and the right side. I had expected that the air in my can would be cool and relatively clean, but was sad to notice a layer of dust on the shelf that is directly in front of my air-conditioner unit. The filter was not keeping much of this particulate matter out, and I could see it blowing into the trailer. My whole room smelled of silt and dust, and I decided that I needed to remedy this as soon as possible. Within a few minutes, my A/C had been rigged with a wet, brown Army towel in front of it, so that any dust that was blown out would hit the front of the towel and drop from there, rather than blowing all over my living space, like so:
Not too fancy, but it did the job. About 30 minutes after the sandstorm started, it began to rain. Hard. A good thing, I thought, as it would bat down the dust a bit. I also noted that the gritty sound of sand hitting the side of my trailer had ceased.
Then, I had an idea. I grabbed my Army-issue wet weather gear, along with my Dopp kit and soap. I then hid a towel under my coat, opened the door, and ran towards the showers. The landscape outside had changed: there was a thick layer of dust and/or mud wherever I stepped, and everything was greyish-brown, including the air visible beneath the outside lights.
But no matter: for the first time in a month, I had the entire bathroom to myself.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Hi, Erik,
This storm reminds me of the duststorms in Kansas, which were similar, but not as intense. You will remember the farm where little Grandma, Jo, and my Dad lived. The duststorms would approach the farm from the west. The outer wall on the west side of the house would be covered in fine dust. We would hose or sweep it off. Also, the dust came into the house in massive amounts. But nothing like the photo, however, the duststorms would last for hours. Do you need more baby wipes? Mom
March 30th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
You certainly know how to work the system there. Whenever there is a sandstorm, hit the showers! Thanks for the picture of the brown-towel, that was a nice touch.
Anyways that storm sounded crazy, and the way you described it remiinded me of the kind of way J.K. Rowling would, “the darkness was heavy…” something like that. Anyways, I actually really liked all the pictures from “Oasis”, thanks for uploading them; I like to see the area your living in. Post more if possible. Anyways mom is about to read me a short story so I’ll talk to you maybe tomorrrow or sometime soon! Goodnight (Although for you Good Morning)
March 30th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Greetings, Doc: Those pictures of the dust “sunamis” are just unbelievable! In all of my 59 years I’ve never seen anything like it! What happens to the poor guys in the tents? By the way, have you checked the filter on your a/c lately? If you’ve got three or four hours, let me tell you about our nearly NEW Prius (Latin for “to go before”) They chose the name since the vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come. Why did the Japanese pick a Latin name? Another of life’s sweet mysteries. This is a car that is (if nothing else can be said about it) very unique. The electronics are, in a word, spectacular. Erik, when you see this car and drive it you will want to head to the nearest Toyota dealer and buy one. It has a 1.5 liter gas engine with an electric motor which run separately and in tandem to deliver 45 mpg! It will run all day at highway speeds and when driving slowly or stopped, the gas engine stops and the electric motor takes over. Very, very cool. It has all the toast and marmalde including but not limited to a/c, leather, nav-gps system (note it’s a SYSTEM…much more better), cd changer, many monitors and all with hydrochloric drive which has stood the acid test. I made up that last part. I am so impressed with this car. You will be too. When you get back in Sept. We will drive down to see you (following a respectable time for you to get acquainted with your family) which can be done for about $60 in gas. The car only holds 11.9 gals which could take us nearly 500 miles. What a deal! The color is silver as in (HiYo) with dark leather appointments…stunning. This combo was what your mother would have selected in a new model.
We’ve discovered there is a bit of a learning curve in starting and stopping the silver bullet. We’re working that out now. For me it’s basically a piece of cake. But then you know. Not wishing to hog the blog, I will stiffle myself but not before telling you how much I enjoyed talking with you last week and what a delight it is to read about your experiences. You capture the essence of your little can and county very well, indeed. Keep on bloggin’. And, oh yes, stay on the friendly side of the fence. Love to my favorite doc. dad
April 1st, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hi Erik,
What incredible experiences you are having there in Iraq. So glad that you were all kept safe during that sandstorm. Thanks for sharing those 2005 pictures as well. And here I am in Ontario Canada, feeling somewhat depressed over the now dirty mounds of frozen snow that still dominate our yards. However, I feel that we are much better off than all that sand coming at us. Oh well, it is raining slightly and the snow is starting to melt a bit. Our temperatures are still cool…9 degrees or in the low 40’s…nothing like the extreme heat(in the 90’s)that you must feel in your area. In Ontario, we are all anxiously awaiting spring weather, which we heard is on its way.
Carry on with your assignments and we appreciate you keeping us informed of all your adventures.
With love,
Mike & Audrey
April 1st, 2008 at 11:26 am
Just thought I’d let everyone know that Erik has limited Internet access at present for whatever reason. His connection has been down on and off since a few days ago possibly a repercussion of the sand storm, possibly something else. He does have limited access at work. He is unsure of when he can post something else; he is fine however. Thanks for your continued support and interest in his mission. Love, Lorri and girls.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Lorri–
Thanks for the update and let Erik know we are all thinking of him and praying for him. We are also totally entertained by his blog and we look forward to the updates!
Lisa and the Spice Rack
April 1st, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hey you are you back yet or still camping at the airport? There are possibly worse things than being stranded in Hawaii right?
I’ve been at DDEAMC til all hours(Eisenhower Army med. center) with a pylonephritic (sp?) child. Maya gets kidney infections-has had surgery (2001) to remedy the genetic disorder-urethral reflux into her kidney. Hence one functions at about 75%. She spiked a high fever last night and we are under strict medical orders to bring her to the ER if she is febrile. Last night she peaked at 102.8. I’m feeling the crunch of being a single parent suddenly. I was home but still up at 1:30 AM writing when suddenly Erik emailed me so we had a back and forth dialogue for a few minutes but he said he could lose connection at any time. The band has been intermittent over the last 48 hours. He called from clinic today and said that he has no internet at his can. He has to use the bad/unreliable clinic connection to call (we get a 5 minute call) or to email me.
If there’s no new post for a few days, no need to panic though, he is okay.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Erik, I got punkd today (April fools!) by our ingenious and most obnoxious of children, Maddy and Drew. They arrived from school at 3:15 with a letter on official Greenbrier high school letterhead (still unsure how they pulled that off) in an envelope marked URGENT, dated and addressed To The Parents/guardians of Madeline K. Rupard.
“Due to excess tardiness and school truancy…your child has received two lunch detentions resulting in one day of in-school suspension…….etc. etc….Your child was also counted tardy this morning along with fellow student Stephanie Forbes, skipping classes until arriving at school at 1:05 pm. ….We are shocked by the lack of discipline displayed by Madeline’s parents…..etc…etc….We are disappointed in you.
Dr. Margie Hamilton Principal. Please call at….(706) (number) for a personal conference regarding this matter…
and also…. you were April-fooled by your children; Madeline and Drew.
They’ve only learned from the best I guess…like Christmas eve when you were wrapping the Wii but decided to cover the box in Playstation 2 packaging just for kicks. That was precious too.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Erik, Get back on the blog, dog. I need this “fix” every day! We do understand the vicissitudes of those 3rd world country-like web connections (should we say, disconnections?). Nothing like the good old USA, in spite of what Jeremiah Wright seems to think.
I was web surfing the day after your “Laid Waste” writing and dropped into a Wikipedia site that showed some of the best pictures of June 1974, and one of them was of a sandstorm in a small town in Texas in 1935. It looked very similar to the photos you sent. Amazing. I tried to find it again but was unable to. Hope to hear from you soon. A care pkg is coming to you, soon. Anticipation…you will be one of the most popular people in town. Dad
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:25 am
Erik–
Answer: Erik’s blog, Diet Coke, PB M&Ms, a nap, and the Internet
Questions: What are things I’m addicted to?
Lisa (no longer stuck in the Hawaii airport)
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 am
PB M&M’s Lisa?! Me too.
Weird. I can eat them until I’m physically ill.