AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > August > 28 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGive up trying — you can’t escape the dust
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Striker, Iraq — It’s everywhere.
It’s in your eyes. In your shoes. In your tent. In your sleeping bag. In your shower stall. It’s even in the coffee you just poured.
If the dust in Iraq could be spun into gold, every soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team would be an instant millionaire.
Bita Honarvar/AJC
Dust covers a Bradley manual. Staff Sgt. Larry Webb (left) talks about eye irritation; Sgt. Peter Ziegeler says he is used to the grit.
At Camp Striker, more so than some other permanent bases such as Liberty or Taji, the dust is omnipresent.
“I’ve never seen so much dust in my life,” said Staff Sgt. Larry Webb, a corrections officer at Hancock State Prison in Sparta.
“I hate it,” he said. “It irritates your eyes. It gets you congested. It gets into everything.”
Even the clean clothes returned from the Camp Striker laundry service smell of dust. The air-conditioning units spew the fine powdery substance.
A manual for Bradley fighting vehicles at the maintenance bay was so dust laden that it looked like it had been sitting there since the dawn of Iraqi history. And that is a long, long time.
The haze of dust sits over Camp Striker some days like fog that rolled in overnight. Except, said Webb, “it never burns off.”
There’s not much you can do to avoid it so the soldiers just ignore it. Even when a big cloud of it settles on top of a cup of freshly brewed java.
“I’m used to it now,” said Sgt. Peter Ziegeler, A Staten Island soldier whose infantry unit is attached to the 256th Brigade Combat Team from Louisiana. “It doesn’t bother me.”
Easy for Ziegeler to say. His unit’s tour is over and he’s going home in 10 days.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By cindy
August 28, 2005 01:58 PM | Link to this
Congratulations! Sgt. Peter Ziegeler on a job well done! I know your family will have quite a celebration! Thank you for what you have undergone!
By Johnny
August 30, 2005 01:00 AM | Link to this
Excellent job Peter Ziegeler. N.Y. State is proud of you. Get home safe. God bless America.
By Sherri Dunham
August 30, 2005 08:11 AM | Link to this
Good to see SGT Larry Webb is doing good. We work at the DPTMS, Installation Ammunition Office, Fort Stewart, GA and know him from him coming in this office. Stay safe! We will continue to keep you in our prayers!
Sherri and Brenda
By Marie
August 30, 2005 11:21 PM | Link to this
I just wanted to say thank you to AJC for making it possible for me to hook up with a fabulous organization called Wounded Warriors. It has helped me to actually be doing SOMETHING to help. Thank you Tammy !!!! and thank you AJC. Tammy…you know who else I want to thank here……I will keep that to myself…….lol. God Bless Our Soldiers.