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Episode 11: Transient Tents
February 9, 2005 9:32 a.m. (Baghdad Time)
Al Asad, Iraq
By LCpl Sincioco
Revised on April 5, 2008
On the Move
It's yet another beautiful, but cold, day here in Al Asad. Sgt Williams and I moved to a brand-spanking new tent they just put up a couple of weeks ago. There are about 14 or so such new tents located about half a mile to where the transient tents are, and all of them are twice the size of the transient tents. Remember I said that after Smith left the nights were lonelier and colder? Well, it was not an exaggerated statement. Shortly after they boarded the bus and left, we lost power in the transient tents.
It also started raining for a few days, so the tent was leaking. Holes on the canvas of the tent, coupled with the nearly non-existent waterproofing made for a rather wet night. The water came in from above us and from the side, as they seeped in on the holes of when the canvas walls meet the floor. The plastic ceiling we erected a couple of weeks ago held well; it channeled the water away from our cot and gear.
More Power to Ya!
But, before we lost power, Sgt. Williams had an electrifying experience. See, we wanted to plug in my TV and PlayStation so we can watch a DVD. Through the excitement, however, we plugged in the TV to the "haji" socket which is 220 volts! Ouch! It blew the fuse in the "haji" to European outlet converter (converts just the prong connectors). It blew the fuse in the European to U.S. converter (converts 220 volts to 120 volts) and it blew the surge protector we were using (where the TV was plugged in). It also blew the fuse in the T.V.! You folks back home are pretty lucky. You have an electric appliance or device, you plug it in the outlet and it just works. Our luck is just not so in Iraq. We must daisy chain a series of contraption just we can get our state of the art U.S. electric devices to work here.
Not the SONY VAIO!
When we first figured out how the power situation worked in the tent a month ago, I nearly had a heart attack. Because we were using some cheap "haji" surge protector, whenever someone would plug in something to it, it would start sparking. Well, one Marine plugged in something and it sparked everything that was plugged into it. I lost power to my laptop. What's worst? We tried to plug it in various surge protectors and outlet and we could not get the power supply of my laptop to light up again. I thought to myself, "Oh my God, not only does it cost $199 for that power supply, but it would take months to order one and for it to get to me." You know, life without a computer is like death to LCpl Sincioco. After a few minutes of trying we gave up. I just assumed that my Sony VAIO would be out of commission for the next several months. Then, I plugged it in one last time. And low and behold, the power indicator lit up! "Hurray!" I thought to myself. You got to love Sony, I guess my AC adapter has a built-in circuit breaker of some sort and just took awhile to reset. "You get what you pay for," my mother used to say.
Damn Cold Weather
Now, back to our story. Because there was no power in the transient tents, Sgt Williams and I would stay at work as long as humanly possible. The only reason we go back to the tent is if we need something or if we are ready to go to sleep. So, 16 hours a day at work is pretty typical, even more than that sometimes. Remember how my sleeping bag kept me warm and cozy? Well, that's when we had power and a heater running. It's been so cold here lately that even my 3-layered sleeping bag is not enough to keep me warm. I'm sure if I zip it up all the way it could keep me warmer, but I also can't breathe as well, so I leave a hole just enough for me to breathe through, but that hole is also just enough for the warm air to escape. Ahh, you can't win.
Oh, and let's talk about going to the shower. See, I go to the shower with just a short and a shirt. The shower is about a few minutes walk. I walk on my flip-flops, shower shoes, on a rocky terrain. Rocks poke the sole of my feet sometimes, but that's nothing compared to the skin-piercing coldness of the air. When the air blows, oh my God, all I can think about is walking faster just so I can make it to the "comfort trailer" (the Navy's shaving/shower room) faster. But, the faster I walk, the more chances rocks poke my feet. It's damn if you do, damn if you don't kind of thing. What's worst is when I come out of the shower. I'm all nice, warm and comfy. When I open the door of the comfort trailer to get out, the rush of cold air immediately brings all my hair up—goose bumps galore—and the race back to the tent begins, in my flip-flops, of course.
It really has been cold here in general, so I wear full sweats inside my cammies 24/7. Due to the cold weather, the rain, and the lack of power to the transient tent, GySgt Dubay decided to move us to the newer tents. But everything about the newer tents are double; twice as large, twice as warmer, twice as bright, but also twice the number of Marines inside.
Memory Lane
I had some pretty good memories at that, now little, transient tent we had. When Cpl Monroe came to pick up Sgt Williams and me, he could not believe that people were still staying in the transient tents. The three remaining civilians that were with us decided to fly back to Camp Victory, Kuwait. They said, "Until the living condition here improves, we are not coming back." I have forgotten what it's like to be a civilian; you have a choice! Personally, I did not mind our living condition. I thought we were doing just fine. Sure it's a little cold, a little dark, but hey, is this not a combat zone? Oh I forgot, I'm a Marine, and they are civilians.
I spoke to an officer one time at the shower room. He asked me how I like Iraq so far.
"It's better than I thought it would be, sir."
"Things have gotten better compared to a year ago," he said.
"Oh, yeah? What was it like a year ago?" I asked.
"Well, you picked a spot on the side of the road and you slept there."
"That was sort of what I had in mind, sir. So even being in the transient tent is not so bad."
"The chow hall did not exist a year ago, we ate MREs."
"Somehow, I thought we were going to eat MREs too, sir. Quite frankly, I like MREs, but I like the chow hall better."
The transient tents are still standing, even though their occupants have been moved around. It's pretty quiet around the transient tents; no power generators are running 24/7 anymore. I still go to that area once in a while to use the bathroom. Somehow, I fancy the porta-Jons better than the real toilets. I am strange that way.
When the main body of our deployment arrives, they won't be stuck in the transient tents like we were. A whole infrastructure of tents, toilets, shower/shaving room has been setup for them. They won't know what it was like to live in a transient tent, be with transient friends, or have a transient life. In some way, I am still in a transient tent. We are waiting for a whole bunch of Marines to leave this base soon. Once they do, we are moving in their "tin cans," our soon-to-be permanent living quarters. I hope I get a roommate that I can get along with, or it will be one very long deployment.
Everyone hates the transient tent, much like everyone hates MREs. But you know what? If I hadn't been stuck in the transient tent to begin with I probably would have never gotten to know Smith. So, thank God for anything transient because sometimes, just sometimes, you get something permanent out of it: good memories.
—LCpl Sincioco
United States Marine Corps,
8th Comm BN, Support Co., Data Platoon
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