A chaotic campout

March 04, 2005

“Has it been this crazy in here the whole time?”

That’s the first thing Lt. Marcel Robicheaux said to me when he saw me today. He just moved into surge housing.

At the moment, there are two wrestling matches on the hard, muddy concrete floor. There’s yelling and screaming and cussing.

And amid it all, there’s sleeping.

It’s chaos.

Outside, thunder rumbles a warning of impending rain. We haven’t heard thunder for a year. The sky is flashing with lightning and black clouds are moving closer and closer.

Yep, now it’s raining. The mud is about to get worse.

We ran out of water today, too. A water main broke.

No showers, no toilets, no sinks. Thank God for Port-a-Potties.

Boy, I never thought I’d utter those words.

It’s like we’re on one big campout ... without the campfire and S’mores.

Kuwait is sounding better and better.

Lights out. It’s 11 p.m. I’m now writing in the dark, using a flashlight to read my notes. In the darkness I see the glow of the occasional computer playing a movie. A little group of guys are playing cards by flashlight.

But mostly it’s turning sleepy.

Lights will blink on again around 7 a.m. and we’ll be one day closer to flushing toilets.

Posted by Amy at March 4, 2005 04:48 PM