AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > November > 21 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBuilding an oasis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Convoy Support Center Scania, Iraq — Some people will go to great lengths to escape this place. Even if it means building a whole new environment around them.
Jeremy Redmon/AJC
Malcolm Lyde, a plumbing supervisor for KBR, built a fountain here in the shape of a guitar. “It’s a place to kind of get away and forget you are in a prison,” said Lyde, 55, a Vietnam veteran from Pitkin, La.
Off in a corner of this base, away from the Humvees and machine guns and beside a small group of date palms, water is trickling over rocks.
There is a fountain there in the shape of a guitar. Doves fly underneath the green camouflage netting suspended overhead and drink from the fountain’s edge.
Malcolm Lyde built this oasis. He is a plumbing supervisor for KBR, a U.S. military contractor that works at this major truck refueling and rest stop in central Iraq.
“It’s a place to kind of get away and forget you are in a prison,” said Lyde, 55, a Vietnam veteran from Pitkin, La.
Lyde said KBR told him he could build the fountain as long as he did it on his own time and didn’t use anything from the base that was considered valuable.
Lyde worked at night and in the early morning, hunting rocks with a flashlight. He found a long piece of metal in a scrap heap that he now uses as his spout. An old Humvee window props up the spout. And his wife mailed him a water pump and plastic lining to seal the fountain.
Lifelike alligator and turtle toys float in the water. Perched on top of the rocks are wooden signs with the names of KBR workers who have spent more than a year working at Scania.
It took Lyde two months to finish “Club Malcolm.” And now, he says, fellow KBR employees, truck drivers, soldiers and helicopter pilots wander over to his side of the base to investigate. Lyde said they are all welcome.
“It was something I knew I could do to give everyone a little peace and take their minds off where they were,” said Lyde, who retired as a plumbing shop supervisor at Fort Polk, La. “It gave me something to do.”
Lyde has been here for two years. He said he wants to be a “grandpa farmer.” The tax-free pay, he said, will help him build a pond and a barn and buy some farm animals for his 34 acres back home. He wants to entertain his four grandchildren there.
He thinks he’ll work here another two years. In the meantime, he is planning a bigger, more elaborate fountain for another spot on this base. Concrete bunkers will become waterfalls in this one, he said.
And there will be at least five times as much water.
“I want to get as much splash as possible,” Lyde said.
He has already started a new rock pile.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Dinelle
November 21, 2005 07:29 PM | Link to this
To my wonderful husband, SGT Jeremy Putman, Thanksgiving and Christmas will not be the same without you. It was hard enough getting through Nicholas’ birthday without you, he really misses his daddy. I am most thankful for the sacrifices you have made over the years for your family and your country. I am always amazed by your strength and courage. To you and all the other Alabama soldiers of the 167th Infantry and to the rest of the 48th Brigade - Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
By Jerry McClanahan
November 22, 2005 07:52 AM | Link to this
To Earl Freeman All your co-workers miss you, and hope you and all the soldiers have a Happy Thanksgiving! You are in our thoughts and prayers. Keep the faith!
By pam whisman
November 22, 2005 11:45 AM | Link to this
spc todd freeman we love and miss you. happy thanksgiving. it will not be the same without you. he is with the 48th brigade out of ga. we love and miss you your family
By Robert
November 22, 2005 07:22 PM | Link to this
How nice to see how one man is spending his free time in a constructive manner by fixing up his area. Wish I had his address and I’d mail him some floating toys from my local swimming pool supply store for his bigger pond he is planning on building. More power to him.
Robert of Rex
By AM
November 23, 2005 12:47 AM | Link to this
To my husband Sgt. J. Maisonet, just wanted you to know that we miss you and wish you a Happy safe Thanksgiving to you and your fellow soldiers. You are always in our prayers and remember we LOVE YOU and WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU. MI AMOR RECUERDA SIEMPRE EN MI MENTE, ALMA Y CORAZON. LOVE JA AND AM.
By Tammy
November 23, 2005 10:11 AM | Link to this
Mr. Lyde, look up SSgt William Saperstein(my husband), he is with the 167th at Scania. I think he would love to help! Thanks for your creativity and providing something to brighten the days there. To all of you at KBR and the 48th BCT, have a Happy Thanksgiving! We love and appriciate you all!
By Grieving Niece
November 24, 2005 04:56 AM | Link to this
I am thankful for the men and women who try to make this place jus a lil bit better
Happy thanksgiving from the UK X