 It was a small outpost in the Iraq desert,not much more than one & a half dozen bods ,I was MT driver ,the camp consisted of a few small scorpion riddled huts and a single airstrip,across the road the Iraq oil pumping station. We made our entertainment by chasing and catching the odd gazelle for a change of diet also kept one as a pet,ungrateful little bugger scarpered finally.Then there were kangaroo rats ,cute and interesting,the only bits of fluff we were allowed out there. As I recall,our latrine building was of brick but we had to sit over buckets and after dark it was quite unnerving,you see, there were no lights and who wanted to sit on a scorpion,so we would light a piece of paper,take a good look around then go about our business,the liquid we put in plus disinfectant extinguished the flame. One morning on reading DROs we saw a notice warning us of the hazards of putting the lit paper into the latrine and if we wished to visit the Adjy in the hospital,he had burned his appendages.What happened? well the supply of disinfectant ended and the new supply had not arrived,there was an abundance of crude oil across the road but somebody forgot how flammable.That was how our Adjy got roasted nuts. I do hope it did not prevent him from having a family,he really was the nicest guy.If anyone relates to this I would like very much to hear from them.Bill Carter |
