Even though I've been through countless storms like this, it is still a little freaky when you see one arriving like that. Most of our sand storms cut the visibility down to a few feet; but, the occasional really bad one will completely blind you. You literally cannot see 2 inches in front of your face. The fine sand gets everywhere. During the last one, two days ago, I placed my M4 (folding stock M16 style) in a plastic bag and stood it in the corner of my enclosed and taped off room. The next morning, I poured about an inch of sand out of the bag. Sucks trying to sleep wearing an 3M N100 paticulate mask. Blowing mud out of your nose is a daily ritual around here.
As for the vehicles, no, we don't have covers for the vehicles. Yes, a couple good sand storms will take the paint right off of them. The sand in the air is more like a powder rather than beach type sand. That powder in an 80 mph wind does a nice job sanding things down extremely smooth. We usually keep our air filters for about a month; however, they require a good blowing out with the air compressor every few days. Personally, each morning before I start my F350, I pull the air filter and tap it against the bumper, reinstall, and fire it up.
I don't know how much longer I'll be over here. Our contract is good through the end of September. There will be plenty of work at this site after that date; but, I have been getting pretty burnt out lately. One good thing is that there are no "real" periods of boredom. It is pretty much balls to the wall 12-15 hrs/day. The hard part is staying focused and paying constant attention while setting up the explosives and ALWAYS keeping an eye out on the perimeter for those who want to kill us. The bad guys keep probing us every few days but have yet to get inside the wire (that we know of). Most of us are at the point where we welcome a head to head fight just to get it over with so we can stop worrying about it. A couple plots to attack our site have been foiled by an Army Captain's group (a 3rd ID Scout and Scout Sniper Team), so we know that they have been attempting to target us and have been planning (don't tell my wife). If the money wasn't so good, I'd already be home. I'll see if I can get down to the maintenance shop with my camera tomorrow and get some pictures of a couple of the F350 trucks riddled with bullet holes. Nothing like driving through a hail storm of 7.62x39mm bullets to get the adrenaline going.
As for the vehicles, no, we don't have covers for the vehicles. Yes, a couple good sand storms will take the paint right off of them. The sand in the air is more like a powder rather than beach type sand. That powder in an 80 mph wind does a nice job sanding things down extremely smooth. We usually keep our air filters for about a month; however, they require a good blowing out with the air compressor every few days. Personally, each morning before I start my F350, I pull the air filter and tap it against the bumper, reinstall, and fire it up.
I don't know how much longer I'll be over here. Our contract is good through the end of September. There will be plenty of work at this site after that date; but, I have been getting pretty burnt out lately. One good thing is that there are no "real" periods of boredom. It is pretty much balls to the wall 12-15 hrs/day. The hard part is staying focused and paying constant attention while setting up the explosives and ALWAYS keeping an eye out on the perimeter for those who want to kill us. The bad guys keep probing us every few days but have yet to get inside the wire (that we know of). Most of us are at the point where we welcome a head to head fight just to get it over with so we can stop worrying about it. A couple plots to attack our site have been foiled by an Army Captain's group (a 3rd ID Scout and Scout Sniper Team), so we know that they have been attempting to target us and have been planning (don't tell my wife). If the money wasn't so good, I'd already be home. I'll see if I can get down to the maintenance shop with my camera tomorrow and get some pictures of a couple of the F350 trucks riddled with bullet holes. Nothing like driving through a hail storm of 7.62x39mm bullets to get the adrenaline going.
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