So I do IT infrastructure work here in Iraq, basically. In the US it can be pretty routine stuff at times. I wanted to share this next account so others would understand some of the “fun” distractions we get working out here.

On Friday, October 13, 2006 I had been working over at the computer site near the Blue Room. I was visiting a bit with the system administrator and the other Marines assigned there, when I noticed a lot of lightning in the sky. It was quite late in the day, and many had already turned in, with the night crews in place. It was dark, very dark, except for those streaks of lightening I kept noticing. All my time so far in Iraq had been dry and hot, with no real storms at all. One morning we had the sky open up and it sprinkled some rain on us for around 2 or 3 minutes, but then it vanished.

This wasn’t like anything I had experienced yet in Iraq, but it reminded me a lot of the storms which would violently and furiously roll in unexpectedly on the plains of the mid-west when I lived in Iowa and Missouri. That previous experience told me, as this level of electrical activity in the sky escalated, that I needed to head indoors, and soon. What I didn’t know was that what was about to happen next would be unlike anything I had ever experienced in the mid-west.

I saw the conditions were deteriorating very rapidly, so I hopped on the ATV “Gator”, I used for transportation and headed back to my housing quarters. I was heading along, somewhat nervous from all the activity in the sky, and I guess in that anxiety made a wrong turn…well not exactly wrong, but in a direction which would add two or three minutes to my commute. I got to make my next turn, and wouldn’t you know it a convoy was passing through my next intersection. I yield my little ATV to the line of up-armored trucks and fighting vehicles…and I waited. Finely I get a break and I turn down the road that heads towards Camp Devildog, where I lived.

You know that weird calm before the storm…well I was in it. I knew something was about to hit, and it did. I negotiated the hair pin turn down another road, doubling back to my Camp when the first wave rolled in. It was just like being waist deep in the ocean when a big set of waves rolls in unexpectedly. This wave, however, was not water it was sand, dirt, wind and rock. It was bad.

Now I didn’t know this next bit at the time, but I heard it the next day from a CPL I worked with. He was out with another Marine and their Captain looking at the storm, as it was quite impressive. The Captain had just gone in, and there was a bit of a lull in the lightning…it was all dark in the sky. The remaining two had just decided to turn in, when a big flash of lightning lit up the sky and they saw an enormous wave of sand rolling over the base, engulfing it, coming right towards them. Seeing it was just about upon them, they ran into their offices, and slammed shut the hatch doors, just in time. What they were seeing, I would later realize was the same wave of sand which just crashed upon me.

I had some goggles on my Kevlar helmet just in case this was to happen, but didn’t have the presence of mind to have with me a wrap for my face on me that day. I pulled down my goggles, and tried to breath. I found if I kept my mouth closed and breathed slowly and deliberately through my nose, in and out, I could make it.

This first wave was a pretty sudden hit, but it was only the beginning of what would grow to be a constant and sustained torrent of wind, dirt and sand. The best I can describe my journey from one side of the camp, made up of living trailers, cans, as we call them, was slow and steady. All the time I was getting pelted by small rocks and an endless sandblast to my face and hands. I got used to breathing in the dust and could more or less see, at least a few feet with my headlights on. I knew I could make it. I turned the ATV so the headlights were facing the outer perimeter of Hesco barriers which surrounded the trailers and headed slowly around, careful not to hit anyone, another vehicle, or anything else.

Slowly I worked my way around. The sand and dirt was swirling around me, but I felt secure on the ATV. Finely I had made it to the other side of the camp, where I’d be able to park my ATV and make my way to my can to wait out the storm. The storm all along had been intense, but when I got up from the security of the ATV I felt the full force. I noticed the Gator started to roll backwards from the push of the wind, and quickly sat back down and pulled on the hand break. This was a lot of wind. I then got up one more time, knew the direction I was to go, as I just had head lights focused on it, and started off. Each step was a struggle, it felt exactly like when you are riding waves in the ocean and you get drilled under the crash of a large wave. All of the under currents and weight of the wave upon you pull and push you in all directions. This was what the wind, sand and dirt felt like swirling around me. Step by step I made it closer, unable a few times to even see more than a few feet in front of me. I saw the Hesco barrier, and then I saw my door.

I had my key in hand, as I had decided the last thing I wanted to do was struggle in my pockets surrounded by this activity. Between the barrier and my door, the wind was more focused like a wind tunnel, still random, but very intense. I moved my key towards the lock and I saw the arc. There was an actual arc of electricity from the tip of my key to the door lock. I jerked my hand back and noticed the little keylight on my key chain had been turned on. I was fine, but the electrical effect was stunning. I reached out with my left hand to grab the door latch, somewhat to steady myself from the wind, but mainly to steady my other hand to unlock the door. As I reached forward to the latch, more arcs of electricity, this time from my thumb, index and second finger tips to the door latch. They were very thin lines of electricity in arcs. I pulled my hand back and they disappeared. It was then I noticed the hair on my arms was standing strait up, the static electricity all around me was getting intense. I reached out for the latch again, once again seeing the arcs of electricity, but firmly grasping the handle. I moved my key to the lock, an arc appeared once again from the key tip to the lock, but I forced the key into the keyhole and unlocked my door.

I only had my door open for a slight second for me to slip inside, but in that short period the wind deposited a substantial amount of dirt and sand. I pulled my goggles off, and looked around and noticed the most peculiar effect. The sandstorm had forced through cracks in the doors and windows, and the wall mounted air conditioner a super fine dust, which hung in the air, almost as if there had been a fire. I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure this wasn’t just an after affect of my recent pelting. No, this super fine dust was real and was just hanging in the air. I went to the mirror and noticed I looked like a raccoon with the dust around my face, nose, ears and neck. Almost as soon as I took off my body armor and Kevlar helmet the storm changed gears. Almost as suddenly as the sand had descended it ended and rain broke out. The sand storm with all its wind and dirt had ended, in its place wave upon wave of rain. The rain probably only lasted hard another 15 minutes and then the storm was over, still raining lightly, but the activity was gone.

I was pretty charged up by now and realized I hadn’t yet eaten dinner. I put on a light jacket, slid my goggles off the helmet and onto my arm and headed out to eat. After dinner I checked on my sites and I had two of them go down, one I got back up before bed, the other one would take a day or two before S6 could fix it. In the end, it was a night I was sure I’d be remembering for a long time.