We went out on patrol the other night down in the South of our AO.  We went out on a more or less “feel good” mission.  The kind of mission where you interact a lot with the people, get to hand out toys to kids, eat Iraqi Chow (which I am eating more of than Army chow these days) and try to show everyone what great fellows the Coalition forces are.  The officers spend most of their time shaking hands, kissing cheeks (and other body parts), drinking chai and politicking.  Its not a bad thing to do as it tends to bring in leads and helps the people realize we are there to help them.  The bad guys spend an awful lot of time in this area terrorizing families, intimidating Sheiks, and putting out anti-coalition propaganda.

In general, I don’t mind this type of mission.  I get to practice my Arabic, eat hot food, and debate different things with locals.  It amazes me the ideas some Iraqis have about Americans and Western culture.  It really shouldn’t given how they are brought up, but some of the wild tales I hear make my jaw drop.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a bad time or too miserable for a change. 

However, it meant we had to spend the night at COP Nightmare, aka Sandflea City.  The whole COP is notorious for its sandflea infestation.  Nothing that has been done has helped, and I don’t understand how the people that live there continuously deal with it.  We go out there about twice a week on average and learned pretty quickly the places to sleep and not to sleep.  Stay off the balcony and sleep on the ground floor.  I usually stay in the Aid station on one of the stretchers.  Its a nice raised platform and not too uncomfortable once you get the stretcher stand bar positioned in your back properly.

I am beginning to think that sandfleas are one of the plagues of the apocalypse.  They are everywhere, you can’t kill them, and their bites are pure torture until they heal.  You never get just one or two bites either.  Its always a limb or two covered. It seems that the sandfleas in Sandflea City have learned new tricks as well.  Even sleeping on a raised platform on the ground floor with a slightly cool breeze didn’t help.  I look like I have smallpox.  Well, either that or I am a die hard heroin addict.  My arms are covered with little, itchy, red, bites.  Even my feet, which were covered with socks have bites.  The worst part is they itch even worse when you sweat.

I slept pretty well though.  I slept through the sandflea attack and got about 4 hours on that stretcher.  We even came back to the FOB the next day without going on another patrol.  That was a nice change of pace.  Got to get a shower, get caught up on some personal business, and get a nap.  What more could I ask for?