American Boy in Balad... Pt3 (an overnight on the airfield) (180 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by The New and Revised BozzNC (View user info) at 2009-04-24 02:50:05 EDT
Dust.. Is there no more intrusive, pervasive, persistent enemy of electronics, engines, and all things that live than Dust? You wake in the morning (11PM Local time for us Night Shifters) to a foggy haze and a strangely solid, metallic taste in your mouth. Around 2am, the dust has either lifted, or set in deeper, depending on the winds. On lifting nights, A cool breeze comes across the land, hit?s the hot, barren earth around the airstrip, and rises into the night, carrying the dust aloft and away from us. On settling nights., well, I?ve never been in a blizzard, but I have been whited out in fog, and that?s the closest similarity I can think of. Imagine not being able to see the strobe lights of an AH-64 Apache Helicopter until he?s only 50 feet away from you, and Straight UP! The downdraft from a helicopter creates a small hurricane with flying pieces of sod, brush, and the inevitable piece of plywood careening crazily about in the maelstrom.
On clear nights, the view across the airport is stunning. Most aircraft keep their lights off until on short final, almost on the deck, and it makes for some dramatic and heart stopping surprises. On one of my very first nights, My head snapped around at what I thought was a missile from the corner of my eye. A bluish flame, shooting down the runway at about 30 feet tore across the field and had reached the other end of the flight line before the ear shattering banshee howl of an F-16 Fighting Falcon reached me. The pilots here do their takeoff rolls at full afterburner, no lights on, careening down the strip at breakneck speed before yanking their nimble craft almost vertically skyward in one of the most awe inspiring, ear drum rupturing experiences I have ever had.
Just before dawn comes the almost audible sigh of relief as the strip slows down to reset, refuel, maintain, and rest their war fighters. The backscatter of the rays across the horizon actually light the center of the sky before the east comes aglow, most likely due to the dust that hovers in the air from surface level to about five hundred feet. The deep indigo, then purple is normally a herald of a fresh new day, and truly, this is my favorite time here. The air is at it?s coolest, a positively frigid 90 degrees, the breeze blows a hint of a summer shower that never comes but still gives hope, and all feels at peace. It?s quiet here at dawn, a good time for reflection, meditation, or relaxation, depending on your plans for the duration of the day.
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Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-04-24 02:58:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
:)