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Troops Weather Winds of War
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
By J.S. Newton
Observer Staff Writer

Staff writer J.S. Newton is in Afghanistan, but he can be reached after his return at 486-3587 or newtonj@fayettevillenc.com



Short

BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- Source
The dust is like talcum powder, and the wind that blows it around is like a North Carolina hurricane.

The U.S. military is five days into what the locals call the “winds of 120 days.” It’s four months of sandstorms that cause problems for flight crews, computer operators -- even people using the latrine.

Before the military roped down the portable toilets, the occasional 70-mph gust blew them over. Sometimes people were sitting inside.

Computer disk drives last between two days and a month before the dust gets inside.

People are bothered by the dust, too.

“I hate it,” said Sr. Airman Matt Berger, who for 12 hours a day stands guard at the entrance to Bagram’s main runway. “It makes your nose bleed and your skin dry.”

* Protective gear
* Picnic weather
(More: The Fayetteville Observer News Source)
2002 © The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer.

“Just walking from the shower to the tent, I get dirty again,” Gilleo said.

For some reason, I just can’t take the kid’s whining all that seriously. Maybe it’s the Infantry in me? Life is a GP small, medium, or large is awkward, but I’ve never known it to be “terrible” and “disgusting.”
;^)

For the rest of it, sounds like a chance for innovation. Sealed PCs and systems that can be liquid-cooled might be an answer -- or how about a new (or existing) form of heat-sink design that allows for a completely closed system?

Dan