New standards for living

March 11, 2005

I awoke with a start at 6 a.m.

Reveille was blaring from loudspeakers somewhere outside. The trumpeted song was annoying.

I sat bolt upright in my top bunk and the words of the song began to run through my head.

“It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning.”

My dad used to wake me singing that when I was little. He was a signal corps guy in the army.

“I’m in Hell,” I said out loud.

And then, when it fell quiet again, I went back to asleep.

Later in the day I asked someone if that was a nightmare or if they really blared reveille.

It’s true. They did, just like they do at army bases in America. Camp Doha is like a piece of America in the Kuwaiti desert.

There was no reveille trumpeted at American camps in Iraq.

This place is a whole different world. Example: Soldiers are allowed to wear civilian clothes when not working. But there are many, many sergeants major and officers trolling about to make sure everyone in uniform is properly tucked, laced and hatted.

This morning, I was walking from my warehouse barracks to the female shower trailer. And, like I have for the past year, I was wearing army physical training shorts and T-shirt.

Clothing options were limited back in Camp Taji. This is the closest thing to lounge clothes I found.

A “Butter Bar” — the nickname for a second lieutenant because the bar showing his rank is yellowish gold — with a military intelligence branch patch on his left collar stopped me.

He did a double take and asked if I was a civilian.

I responded that I was.

“Well, I was just going to correct you on your uniform,” he said.

Then he proceeded to correct me.

“You should tuck your shirt in,” he said.

My answer?

The military standard: “Roger.”

The next several days, or however long we stay here waiting for our planes home, will be very entertaining.

Posted by Amy at March 11, 2005 09:39 AM