Here in the Sandbox we have the standard Jersey Barriers, just like the ones we have back home (usually strung together with massive heavy-gauge steel wires) to keep things separated and orderly. But the military, in the spirit of "Bigger-is-Better", also has what we call Texas Barriers and Alaska Barriers, too. These concrete monstrosities are a daily part of the landscape here (and pretty much everywhere else in the AOR). The Texas barriers have a flared-out foot at the base that we like to sit on (not sure if that was the original intention, or not, but they are convenient). The Alaska barriers, as you can imagine, are the biggest - they are extremely tall, and they are used to shield areas from view (like from those pesky and annoying forward observers or snipers). Our world is made up of fence lines, concrete, sandbags, pre-fabricated-whatevers, and a lot of wire. The sand, rock, dust and stones make for a bleak landscape - punctuated only by the occasional desert scrub, or some plastic bag blowing in the wind (for some reason, plastic bags are the tumble weeds of this place - I imagine each one has a story...). Today there were clouds in the sky - it was so unusual that we all didn't quite grasp it immediately - that is until there was an actual dimming of the sun (yes, there were that many clouds!) - then, there was a clap of thunder (it was incredibly humid today, and hot, which may have explained the appearance of the clouds), and a few people hit the deck because they thought that something had blown up. That was it, but that boom was like a thing from a past life, and I thought it was a promise of better things to come. This evening the clouds are gone (and the night sky looks clearer than it has in a long while). Usually we see only one star in the bleary night sky (actually, it might be a planet, but we like to quote Madagascar: "Oh look, the star is out..."), but tonight we can see a few stars in the sky. Ramadan should be ending soon - and the coming new moon will light up our desert landscape - but for now, it is nice to see the stars (even if we can only count them on one hand...).
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Barriers
Here in the Sandbox we have the standard Jersey Barriers, just like the ones we have back home (usually strung together with massive heavy-gauge steel wires) to keep things separated and orderly. But the military, in the spirit of "Bigger-is-Better", also has what we call Texas Barriers and Alaska Barriers, too. These concrete monstrosities are a daily part of the landscape here (and pretty much everywhere else in the AOR). The Texas barriers have a flared-out foot at the base that we like to sit on (not sure if that was the original intention, or not, but they are convenient). The Alaska barriers, as you can imagine, are the biggest - they are extremely tall, and they are used to shield areas from view (like from those pesky and annoying forward observers or snipers). Our world is made up of fence lines, concrete, sandbags, pre-fabricated-whatevers, and a lot of wire. The sand, rock, dust and stones make for a bleak landscape - punctuated only by the occasional desert scrub, or some plastic bag blowing in the wind (for some reason, plastic bags are the tumble weeds of this place - I imagine each one has a story...). Today there were clouds in the sky - it was so unusual that we all didn't quite grasp it immediately - that is until there was an actual dimming of the sun (yes, there were that many clouds!) - then, there was a clap of thunder (it was incredibly humid today, and hot, which may have explained the appearance of the clouds), and a few people hit the deck because they thought that something had blown up. That was it, but that boom was like a thing from a past life, and I thought it was a promise of better things to come. This evening the clouds are gone (and the night sky looks clearer than it has in a long while). Usually we see only one star in the bleary night sky (actually, it might be a planet, but we like to quote Madagascar: "Oh look, the star is out..."), but tonight we can see a few stars in the sky. Ramadan should be ending soon - and the coming new moon will light up our desert landscape - but for now, it is nice to see the stars (even if we can only count them on one hand...).
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