A traumatic shortage!

February 22, 2005

Remain calm.

Don’t panic.

This is what I told myself today.

Taji is out of coffee and chocolate — the two things essential for my happiness and well-being here.

Supply convoys have been attacked. Some have been shot, others hijacked.

It happens — a lot.

We miss random things here from time to time. I remember the two weeks without vanilla ice cream. And we had close to a month without ketchup.

But we’ve never, ever run out of chocolate or coffee.

The PX — the army store on post — is out of both.

They’ve been out of creamer before. They’ve been out of soda.

Those were minor irritations.

This is serious.

Col. Mike Ross, deputy brigade commander, broke the news to me today. Actually, he walked into one of the brigade offices and announced it. It’s big news around here.

And it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

We’ve been giving away the last remnants of snacks from a year’s worth of care packages from home like a bake sale at a homeless shelter. Why, why did I give away my last package of M&Ms?

And this is a stressful and tiring time.

Soldiers are patrolling every day and every night and packing in between.

Coffee is essential.

Chocolate is, well, a necessity in my life.

Fortunately I have depth of field when it comes to coffee pots. I can get a cup of coffee at any one of six places across two camps as long as supplies hold. As far as I can tell, the Judge Advocate office where the brigade lawyers dwell has the most promising stores of coffee.

And thanks to Mrs. Edwards, mother of Lt. Col. John Edwards, there was chocolate today in the form of peanut clusters.

I know what you’re thinking: Chocolate and coffee are not essential elements for life.

Yes, you’re probably partly right. But I think coffee is pretty essential around here.

Proof you say?

We don’t sleep much, so it keeps us going. And it’s so important that many people have it shipped in from the states.

As I type, coffee pots gurgle across this camp. Thermoses in humvees hold steaming hot java.

It’s the little things.

Posted by Amy at February 22, 2005 06:02 PM