Blather

This afternoon around five, we boarded the white and purple Nissan bus and headed for the Sather chow hall. Just as we pulled off the road, there were a few cars waiting to get past the gate guard. Up went our ID cards for the guards to check.

But no one moved forward.

Then we noticed that the Bollard was up. (Maybe it's not a genuine Bollard, but that's what I call a humongous piece of steel that lifts up out of the ground and keeps you from driving farther.) Could this be a test? Maybe a periodic check of the security processes? The guard put on his armor and kevlar. Uh oh, maybe this isn't a test.

We were wondering what was going on when we heard a loud "Thump!" and saw a plume of black smoke over near Camp Liberty, just on the horizon. Over the next hour and a bit, nine more "Thumps!" happened. During this time a few helicopters flew overhead. A large white plane with no windows taxied somewhere, but didn't take off. A thin-skinned MP Suburban drove to the gate; the driver talked to the gate guards and they let him by. He took off, leaving a cloud of dust 30 feet in the air as he headed for the area over open fields. Periodically, the two gate guards, wearing armor and kevlar, would patrol around the guard shack. They shuffled in the heat and dust, looking down as if they'd lost their keys and couldn't go home until they found them. I felt sorry for them because the heat was oppressive and the armor was heavy and hot. They were doing what they were supposed to do, but they knew they wouldn't find anything in their searches. This took some grit and determination.

In front of us were three humvees with hungry crew who were headed for the same chow hall. One soldier with a black bandana looked right out of "Apocalypse Now" with the bandana and attitude from that movie. He put his kevlar over the scarf and got back into his humvee. Two more MP vehicles went through and took off for the horizon. About 1/4 mile away were the cement bunkers that we were supposed to get inside if the excrement hit the ventilator. (Aw, you know what I mean.) But we stayed put in the bus until the guys with the M-16s told us it was OK to go there.

After we heard a loudspeaker from the horizon call "All Clear," the Bollard went down. By the time we got to the guard, he was out of his armor and everything was back to normal. "Nine DOD" got us past him and we went for chow. In the chow hall, the food was hot, the lights were on and everything was normal. Well, as normal as life can get after mortars hit inside the wire.