Welcome to Balad

The time of fasting, prayer, reflection, dust storms and extra mortar fire...or so I'm told.

I think the "dust storm" part is merely coincidental to the Ramadan thing, but the mortar fire appears to be connected to the dust storms. The day before yesterday, we had our first remarkable amount of dust in the air. I hesitate to say "sandstorm," because I really have no basis for comparison. We could walk outside for a couple of minutes without getting too much dust in the eyes, and could see well enough to drive, so I don't think it qualifies as an actual "storm." However, about twenty minutes after the dust set in, we went into Alarm Red.

Yesterday, again, we had a nasty bit of dust blow in at about the same time of day. Again, about twenty minutes into it, we heard explosions. About three minutes later, we officially went into Alarm Red.*

* What are they doing between the time we hear the first unmistakeable mortar explosions and the time they turned on the siren? Do they have to take the pot roast out of the oven first or something?

I wonder if our enemy doesn't rush to their makeshift rocket launchers, whereever they're concealed, when they see the dust coming in and wait until our visibility is diminished so they feel safe in launching them. (Normally, they bury them at night with timed fuses, and the mortars launch when they're far away the next day. That way, we can't get them with counterfire.*) We certainly can't see Jack. Or Jill, for that matter.

* It appears our enemy here is more interested in living for Allah than in dying for him.

I think our Predators use infrared imaging, though, which means we can see Charlie.* Of course, Charlie's habits and thought processes are all speculation on my part. If I knew that stuff for sure, I'd either be omniscient or one of the enemy, neither of which appeals to me.

* Or whatever our cool euphemism is for "the enemy" in this war. Shouldn't it be "India" or "Indians"?

I shot some pics of the dust cover we had yesterday. Then I shot pics of the same areas this morning, for comparison. I'll show them as "before" and "after" pics, though:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

And the season's only beginning. Something tells me these are but mere squalls compared to what we can expect before Christmas. That's why we just got issued these sweet babies, I reckon:

OK. They aren't the sexiest things going, but they beat the pants out of the standard issue goggles the military used to pass out for sandstorms, that make you look like a displaced deep sea diver. The fact that these make me look like a turn-of-the-century bicyclist is an improvement. Really. But when given the choice between sand in the eyes and no sand in the eyes, what one looks like to others is of secondary importance, anyway.

Our cultural sensitivity briefing informed me that Ramadan is a month-long daylight fast in which Muslims cannot eat or drink or have sex. They have to wait 'til dark, at which time they throw huge feasts, punctuated by celebratory gunfire. They're supposed to spend their fasting time reflecting on being hungry...and tenets of their faith, I suppose. I'm told many of them simply rearrange their schedules for that month so as to sleep all day and wake at dusk. I don't know how much truth there is to this, but...wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

Speaking of not making sense, I had an interesting conversation with a Catholic man at my last duty station who came to work one day with a dirty "+"* on his forehead. Me being from heavily Protestant country and around nominal Catholics (and just inobservant in general), I'd never seen this before. He'd clearly done it intentionally. The more worldly among you are thinking, "Doh! It was Ash Wednesday, you idiot!" Well, yes. But I had to ask. I felt justified in asking, too, since clearly, someone had deliberately written on his forehead with a dirty finger. If that isn't a built in "Ask me what this means!" invitation, I don't know what is.

* A plus sign. There were two I saw that day. Both were clearly plus signs--not crosses. Call 'em like I see 'em.

He very politely answered that it was Ash Wednesday and the mark was a sign of contrition. He added--for my edification--that the mark replaced showering one's head with ashes, and that replaced wearing sackcloth and ashes, as in the Old Testament. He said the one mark was sufficient in this day and age, since even sprinkling ashes on one's head is ostentatious. He pointed out, a bit smugly, that Matthew 6 condemns such behavior, that one shouldn't do anything to "be seen of men." I thought about it for a second, then said, "So...how is walking around with a big plus sign on your forehead not ostentatious, again?"

But then, religion and its various practices, regardless of the god in question, hasn't ever made sense to me, anyway. Perhaps there's some inner purpose being served for the Muslims who change their waking hours for the month of Ramadan, even thought it sounds silly to me.

Anyway. On the subject of cultural sensitivity, is it perceived as polite or spiteful to tell the Muslims serving food in the chow hall, "Happy Ramadan!" when you know they won't get to eat or drink anything for another eight hours?

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