Laundry day in Iraq

The heat was inhumane; the air was so thick I had difficulty breathing. I made sure to walk slowly as I carried my small pile of laundry to the outdoor wash area.  Each step was like walking into an oven, scorching heat that left its mark upon everything it came in contact with.

Our company commander told us to get outside, get used to the heat.  We had three weeks to acclimate to this environment.  An environment so harsh, there were no living things except us.  We were here for a year.  How was I going to make it?  I looked around me and focused thru squinted eyes protected with dark lens glasses at the surrounding area.  Desolate as far as I could see.

I made it to the wash area, and focused on getting this wash area set up to hand wash my panties, bras, and socks.  The water was held in a fill able water tank, which when empty was empty until a refill truck showed up, they only showed up every three days, so we were cautioned to use our water sparingly.

I looked for a way to plug the sink and found a piece of plastic stranded against the leg of the sink.  I grabbed it up and wrapped a rock into it and shoved it down into the sink.  I turned on the water and it came out scalding hot.  I filled the sink with just enough water to cover my items and turned it off. I added two shakes of the powder detergent and set to washing my undies.

The water was so hot I had to use a stick to swish the items around.  I was sweating but no sweat was dripping because it was evaporating before it could drip. I dipped my hands into the water and scrubbed.  The water had drained out thru the make shift plug and I was left with wet, sudsy undies.  I wrung out the undies and began to fill the sink with more water.  I felt the sand shift beneath my feet; I held onto the sink for balance and realized I wasn’t feeling so good.

I struggled to focus, I had to finish this task, it was the only thing I had that seemed normal tome. Wash my undies.  Too easy, right? I hurriedly ran the water and tried to rinse the clothes before all the water would drain away.  I kept focusing on the clothes and the feeling of weakness passed.  I laid the clothes out in a row on the five fifty cord I had hung and by the time I had hung the last item the first item was dry.

I gathered up my laundry and walked ever so slowly back to my tent to lay down and rest before I had to walk over to the Dining facility to get something to eat.