Shamal
I know, I know...two months with hardly a post, and now, two in one day...wow!!!
The other day, I was working the gate and I happened to look out to the back side of our compound. I could see the clouds in the sky threatening rain, but the horizon behind the hills had an odd brownish tint. As I watched, that brownish tint turned into a swirling, turbulent wall of brown sweeping behind the PRT. It looked as though most of it would pass, until I looked off to the left of our compound...and there it came, sweeping over the hill that had blocked it until this point. Like a pair of pincers, the dust storm (aka shamal) swept over the PRT from front and back. The dust got so bad that we could not see 100 meters, about the length of a US football field.
Taking cover in the base of the gate tower, I watched the dust blowing along the sidewalk that runs along the outside of the wall. The wind was blowing so hard that it kept about one foot of the sidewalk closest to the wall scoured clean, but it made ever-shifting patterns on the remainder of the sidewalk. The shamal lasted about 30 min...afterwords there was dust coating every horizontal surface.
Like most things here...the shamal was starkly beautiful.
But I hope not to be out in the next one!
The other day, I was working the gate and I happened to look out to the back side of our compound. I could see the clouds in the sky threatening rain, but the horizon behind the hills had an odd brownish tint. As I watched, that brownish tint turned into a swirling, turbulent wall of brown sweeping behind the PRT. It looked as though most of it would pass, until I looked off to the left of our compound...and there it came, sweeping over the hill that had blocked it until this point. Like a pair of pincers, the dust storm (aka shamal) swept over the PRT from front and back. The dust got so bad that we could not see 100 meters, about the length of a US football field.
Taking cover in the base of the gate tower, I watched the dust blowing along the sidewalk that runs along the outside of the wall. The wind was blowing so hard that it kept about one foot of the sidewalk closest to the wall scoured clean, but it made ever-shifting patterns on the remainder of the sidewalk. The shamal lasted about 30 min...afterwords there was dust coating every horizontal surface.
Like most things here...the shamal was starkly beautiful.
But I hope not to be out in the next one!
Labels: Afghanistan, Military
posted by Mik | 3/08/2006 08:13:00 PM
1 Comments:
Hay Mr.Reynolds...as i can read you seem to be doing alright. i luv the say that you write! i am into writing down my thought using words that you normally don't say in a conversation. School in woden is goin alright..i had an 89 on my last report card in Algebra! i was exited...seein that i havn't had anythang more than a 78 the entire year. I hope to continue to write you...soo, so long for now!
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