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Published: December 20th 2009
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You won't believe it...Here we are at lovely Camp Bondsteel and at this very moment it is snowing like crazy and the wind is horrific. It's our very first mini blizzard and it's dang cold outside. Now, I'm not saying it's as cold as North Dakota, but for the first time Kosovo is cold to us.
It started very innocently, a few flakes here and there, falling gently from the sky. There was a fun spunk in the air as those from Arizona, Alabama, the Virgin Islands and the many sunny southern states would bounce around pretty excited that it was snowing. Soldiers were still doing their jobs but with a caution that was warranted. But as the day continued on the weather began to take on a twist that was unexpected.
Wind gusts created a wind chill in the air that dropped down to -13 degrees. Soldiers put on their coats, and gloves and next thing we know we are battling snow that is blowing sideways and swirling all around us. We could hardly wait to get off work so we could go back to our rooms and hunker down with good books and our blankee’s. I cranked
up my heat, turned up the Christmas music outside and kept peeking outside every so often just to keep current on the situation outside.
While I was all cozy and settled for the evening there were teams of soldiers trying to get home from their working outposts. What would normally take an hour to drive was taking up to five hours. The radios in the Joint Operations Center were busy tracking all the soldiers outside the confines of Camp Bondsteel. Finally, by 9:30 pm everybody had returned.
The stories were classic. Soldiers exaggerating as normal as that seems to create more laughter than the dull drum of the truth. Stories like this could be heard being told in the messhall… Soldiers departing for home (Camp Bondsteel), the snow is coming down with big flakes landing on the ground and multiplying like crazy. It gets deeper and deeper, they are driving in the mountains so the road is windy and uneven. They have to go potty but there is nowhere so with every giggle there is the danger of tinkling right there inside the car! They eventually pull over to put on chains. Yes, tire chains! There they were,
four soldiers from North Dakota who had never put on chains before. Between the chains, windy roads, civilians walking along the mountain roads and it being dark, the entire wintery episode about push them all over the edge.
So, amongst the beauty of the falling snow, the danger of the slippery roads and the excitement of new experiences from the soldiers who aren’t used to the conditions, this is the first of many days to follow. May everybody enjoy the winter in Kosovo and remember…When winter is over it will then be spring and then after that…It will be time to come home from our deployment!
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