Squeak! Squeak!

December 10, 2004

The squeaking is the worst part.

I know what you’re thinking.

How bad could a squeak be?

When it’s coming from a mouse, it’s pretty bad.

It’s winter in Iraq, and as the temperature falls, Mickey and his friends are moving inside.

Mice are everywhere here at Camp Gunslinger.

But as Capt. Joel Lynch of Shreveport, La., Alpha Company commander, pointed out, the mice in headquarters building aren’t nearly as bad as the rats he has to deal with in his building.

“I think one nibbled on my toe the other day,” he said. “Yeah.”

Fortunately, I have not seen one of those beasts.

I’ve heard them though.

I was in one of the Civil Affairs offices today and heard something squeak. I knew that squeak. I’d first heard it a day or two earlier.

It was a cry for help.

See, Sgt. Paul Bunn of Bradford made his own glue strips to try to control the mouse situation. The first squeak I heard was within an hour of the homemade glue strip being laid.

“I got one!” Bunn said that day — with way too much enthusiasm.

Well, today he shook a finger at Capt. Mike Robbins of Junction City, because he had left another mouse stuck to the glue for a while, waiting for Bunn to return.

“You left him there?” Bunn said. “I’ll take care of him.”

That was my clue to leave.

Bunn, bless his heart, tells me every time he catches a mouse that he cleans the glue off his little paws and fur and carries him outside.

“It’s hard to get all the glue off,” he says with a smile. “It really is.”

Yeah, I know that’s not really what happens. I’m sure whatever he does is swift and painless.

But it’s nice of Bunn to come up with these little stories to shield me from the gruesome art of mouse hunting.

I guess he figures we all see enough violent moments.

Posted by editor at December 10, 2004 01:49 PM