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Episode 12: The Tin Can
February 19, 2005 2:51 a.m. (Baghdad Time)
Al Asad, Iraq
By LCpl Sincioco
Revised on April 5, 2008
"The purpose of all war is ultimately peace."
—Saint Augustine
Yucca Valley Marine
It started out a night like any other night. I went to chow by myself like I do most of the time. Dinner was pepper steak and fish.
I sat next to two Marines conversing. They were in such an unusually—exceptionally—good mood, laughing and joking. I was just sitting there, eating and minding my own business. One of them turned his attention to me.
"You must think we're weird, huh?" asked Cpl Sanchez.
I had my face buried to my plate, so I looked up to him to make sure he was talking to me and I responded.
"I'm sorry, I was not paying attention..." Noticing the chevrons on his collar I added, "...Corporal" after a briefed pause.
"Have you ever heard of The Yucca Valley Marine?" he asked me.
"Don't talk about that shit," Cpl Zues interjected.
Cpl Sanchez, as his name suggests, looked Hispanic, while Cpl Zues looked half White and half Chinese to me.
"It was a Marine who got drunk at Yucca Valley [in 29 Palms] and ran around wearing nothing but his flak, kevlar and boots!" Cpl Sanchez continued with a smile.
I laughed at the thought. I can only imagine the sort of trouble that Marine got himself into. Talk about a Marine of unparallel audacity, boldness, or stupidity, depending on your point of view. I can see why Cpl Zues figured this sort of stuff, the stuff that gives the Marine Corps a bad name, need not be discussed so openly.
Cpl Zues changed the subject.
"How long have you been in country [Iraq]," he asked.
"About a month," I replied.
"How long are you going to be here?"
"Anywhere from 9 to 16 months."
"Holy shit! Dude, you got fucked!" he exclaimed.
"There aren't enough firewall operators in 8th Comm to replace us."
"Dude, load up on porn and MP3s, you're going to need them."
"Oh, I got plenty, Corporal."
"Get yourself a blanket and a bathrobe. Sleeping bags get old afterwards, and running to the shower in PT gear gets cold," advised Cpl Sanchez.
"That's a good idea," I replied.
The two Corporals gave plenty of advise such as buying a mosquito net for the summer.
"Soak it in water, and hang it by your door to trap dust and mosquitoes during the summertime," Cpl Sanchez explained.
"Have you been in Home Depot, yet?" Cpl Zues asked.
"No, I didn't know there's a Home Depot here," I replied naively.
"Well, it's not a real Home Depot, but that's what we call it. You can buy wood and make yourself some furniture."
As he said that, I remembered seeing some makeshift table and furniture in the transient tents.
"Make friends with them and they'll hook you up with free wood," he continued.
"That sounds awesome. But I'm afraid I'm not much of a carpenter."
"You got a pen on you?" Cpl Zues changed the subject again.
"I sure do," I replied enthusiastically.
He wrote down his email address and hands me a piece of paper.
"Here. If you need anything, anything at all, porn, movies, music, things you can't buy at the PX, send me an email and I'll hook you up," he said firmly. "Really, I mean it," he added.
I was surprised by his seemingly genuine offer, even though I have just met them a few minutes ago.
"Wow, why thank you," I said graciously.
"Alright, well, we got to go. You be safe, Sin."
As the two Corporals left, I put the piece of paper Cpl Zues gave me in my front breast pocket. You never know, it might come in handy someday.
And, speaking of someday, the day that I have been waiting for since we got here in Al Asad finally came: getting our very own Tin Can.
The Tin Can
The area where our Tin Can is located is known as Tin City. It is right next to the Transient Tents—literally a stone throw away. So, right away, Tin City felt like home.
My Tin is Block C# 607-608. It is two Tin Cans combined as one, which forms about a 30 by 20 foot living area, according to Schuster's estimation. It has 4 bunk beds, for a total of 8 racks, but only has 5 wall lockers. So Schuster and I were out of luck being the last two to move in.
It would be too long to give each of my roommates a formal introduction, so I will just list them out. Who knows, as I get to know them maybe I'll even dedicate an episode to some or all of them.
Living in a Tin Can is quite interesting. There's never a dull moment around when we are all awake.
"If you hear the rack moving tonight, that's just me jacking off," kid Schuster.
"If I catch you doing that, I'm going to fucking kill you," replied Williams.
"I'm going to kill anyone who jacks off in this room. That's just disgusting to jack off in the presence of other men," said Porter.
"I don't think about other men when I do it," said Schuster, "I think of my wife," he added.
I laughed.
"Oh, you're laughing, Sin, huh?" asked Schuster. "Have you checked your sleeping bag? It should be a little wet. I jacked off in it earlier," he joked.
"Yeah, sure Schuster. Is that why my folded sweats haven't moved?" I replied.
"Yeah, well, I put them on and jacked off in them too."
"You're so disgusting, Schuster."
We laughed.
Wine asked about what I used to do before I joined the Marine Corps. That went swell too. I remember the conversation ending with, "Fuck You, Sin!" What? What's wrong with having made a decent living before joining the Marine Corps?
Cpl Monroe came in to our Tin Can to ask for a cold medicine. Schuster and Salazar had not been feeling well and they both had been looking for some sort of cold medicine. Then, we saw Porter open his footlocker and gave Cpl Monroe some cold medicine.
"Damn, dude. You have some cold medicine?" asked Schuster.
"Yeah, I didn't know anyone wanted some," replied Porter.
"Good Porter, practice your cock-sucking skills. Give a cold medicine to your NCO, but not your fellow Lance Corporals," I teased.
Porter pulls out his knife, "I'm going to fucking kill you, Sin."
"Oh good, you want to stab me? Wine wants to fuck me. Schuster wants to jack off on my rack. I'll sleep well tonight," I said.
With the exception of Williams, everyone has a laptop. Four of them have an Averatec laptop, a pretty good laptop for only $999 at the PX (no tax too). Salazar has a Dell XPS (a gaming laptop). And I have a SONY VAIO (a multimedia laptop). Porter and Gonzales have a PlayStation 2. Gonzales, Wine and I have an iPod. Williams have a Zen (an iPod-like device). So, our room is just one massive collection of electronics. We are data gods, after all. So when we are all awake, one or two could be playing a PlayStation, while the rest of us are playing with our laptop, be it watching a DVD or listening to music.
We are not all on the same work schedule. So, while some of us are awake, sometimes, some of us are trying to sleep. Good luck on getting sleep! Our Tin Can is not a place to get sleep. It's a fun house!
One night, I came back to the Tin Can and saw Schuster just messing with his laptop on his rack, alone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to disturb your private moment," I teased.
"No, it's all right," said Schuster.
He jumped out of the rack, grabbed his laptop and set it on the table. He started playing some music.
"Have you heard of this music?" he asked.
"Nope," I said.
"What?! Damn, how about this one?"
"Um, nope."
"Damn it, Sin. What's wrong with you," he asked smiling.
He played about 10 different songs and I was only able to guess one.
"Alright, how about this one, it's right around your time."
He played a remake of Tears for Fears' Shout.
He played a series of songs, but I could not guess neither the band nor the title of the song.
"I was, and still am, a computer geek," I explained.
"No Doubt," he replied.
"Thanks, Schuster."
"No, I mean, No Doubt is the name of the group."
We both laughed.
Schuster and Mummey as it turned out know each other from MCT and 29 Palms. It's a small world, the Marine Corps, that is.
We're actually pretty lucky. There are still people on this base that lives in a tent. Eventually, all the tents in this base will be converted to Tin Cans. I'm pretty lucky. I got thrown in with a bunch of Marines I know nothing about and find their company rather amusing—if not deadly.
The Fuel Farm on Fire
And, speaking of deadly, a fuel farm on fire would count as one.
It started out like any other morning; except we were awakened by a "THUMP!" followed by a "BOOM!" Tin Can City shook and rattled for a moment. My rack had seemingly moved from its foundation. I unzipped my sleeping bag, opened my eyes and knew exactly what it was. A couple of my roommates got on their feet and started putting their gear on. The others and myself went right back to sleep, waiting for the alarm to sound.
And sure enough, the alarm blared.
I got out of my rack and put on my gear.
"Look out the door!" someone said.
I poke my head out and saw smoke in the air. The mortar hit about a mile away from where we were. It was the closest and loudest I have ever heard it. The ground shook like a short earthquake. The sort of earthquake I would sleep through in California. I grabbed my gear and my rifle, aimed at the sky and shot a picture or two.
We hurried to the TACC building, the building we work in, for accountability. And, as usual, we waited for the all clear to be given out.
When I went to the chow hall that afternoon, I could still see the flames and the smoke. It was a spectacular sight, really. From where I was standing, I could see the Mosque, and behind it, like it had been composited, flames and thick black smoke as though it had been composited like what they do in Hollywood movies. It almost seemed like the mortar hit was near the Mosque, even though it was really some distance away. It was an eerie site, to see flames and smoke in the background and a church in the foreground. (Sorry, I didn't take a picture, the chow line was moving.)
What made this mortar hit louder and more spectacular than anything we have seen since we got here is the fact that it hit our fuel farm. The explosion of the attack, followed shortly by, I'm sure, the explosion of what ever got hit in the fuel farm, intensified it. The cascading effect seemed like we got hit multiple times. The good news is I don't think there was any casualty. Or at least, if there was, I was not aware of it.
Unfortunately, we would not be so lucky on the next attack a few days later. I'm sketchy on the details, but someone said it hit either a tent area or an Internet cafe area. This time, there was casualty. Whether people got wounded or killed, I don't know. Despite the occasional danger here in Al Asad, people who have been in other bases maintain that Al Asad is still the safest base to be.
Until I get hit by that first bullet or shrapnel, I'll continue to feel safe here in Al Asad. Safety, as you all know, is just a matter of statistics. Safety is an illusion we create so we can sleep better at night and cope with whatever situation we find ourselves in. Statistically speaking, you folks back home have a higher chance of getting killed in a car accident as you drive to and from work than I do sitting here by the DSID area typing this episode. Whether you truly believe that or not is a matter of opinion.
Have a good day, and a safe drive to and from work.
—LCpl Sincioco
United States Marine Corps,
8th Comm BN, Support Co., Data Platoon
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