Memorial Day at Camp Virginia

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If there was a Memorial Day ceremony at Camp Virginia, I didn’t hear about it or see it. The holiday was like any other day here. For the Alaskans of Delta and Bravo Companies that meant another day of escort and security duty. The early morning started out like most since I’ve been here, very bright and hot. Later a strong wind suddenly blew oven hot out of the north and just as suddenly stopped. A brown haze ran along the northern horizon. By the time of the afternoon shift change at Bravo Company, clouds of sand were being whipped through the Company area on sharp gusts of wind. As the off duty soldiers headed to their barracks rooms the sand storm erupted. It was as if someone had turned on a switch. The sand laden wind howled. Plastic water bottles, cardboard and bits of paper flew by. Visibility was reduced to almost zero in seconds. The Bravo and Delta Company buildings, just across the road from where I stood disappeared behind a blizzard of brown dust. I stood leaning into the buffeting wind and sand trying to hold my video camera steady to capture some of this desert fury. As I pointed my lens down the road, the humvees of Bravo Company’s area patrol appeared ghost like as they crawled through the swirling clouds of sand. The gunner at his post in the open turret, wrapped in a face mask and goggles against the stinging sand, raised his arms and gave a loud rebel yell as they passed. Security details at Camp Virginia are not canceled due to weather. After more than three hours the storm ended as abruptly as it began. It was followed by thunder, lightening and a smattering of rain later in the evening.

On Memorial Day we remember those countrymen of ours who died defending our nation. It’s also a day for picnics and camping trips; vacations and ball games. This is the first time I’ve been this far away from home on Memorial Day. Now that I’ve experienced a small slice of what daily life can be like for our deployed service men and women, I’ll no longer just honor our war dead and hold a cookout or take a boat ride on Memorial Day. I’ll also remember the sand storm at Camp Virginia, Kuwait.

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