Spring is in the air...

---

It isn’t everyday in Kosovo that I wake up, stumble out onto the deck and marvel at the beauty of my surroundings. It wasn’t just the perfect sight of Mount Duke, which appeared to be so close that I could reach out and touch it. It wasn’t that the temperature was 50 degrees at 10:00 in the morning which was so warm that I didn’t even put my jacket on. It wasn’t even the friendliness of the little orange kitten that was rubbing up against my leg begging for some attention.

I think maybe I was having some serious spring fever symptoms! I didn’t have any inside wallowing thoughts about how much time we still had left to endure the Kosovo experience. Rather, I was all excited about what today might bring. It had indeed been a long week full of military training exercises and missions. Soldiers had been up early in the mornings and worked long into the nights. Kosovo hadn’t changed one bit, but as always the military never ceases to challenge us when we least expect it. So many times our mundane actions day to day can change on the whim of any General. So for more than one day this week many of us where jumping through our ass to plan the last minute details of our ever changing work environment.

So when this morning began at a normal hour for me there were already nearly 200 soldiers paying homage to the military sacrifices of the past. Our MWR (morale, welfare and recreation) office here on Camp Bondsteel had organized a “Bataan Memorial Death March” Marathon. Soldiers could either run or walk 15 miles or they could wear all their army gear with a 35 pound pack and march 26 miles. There were soldiers from many nations on the roads of Camp Bondsteel anywhere from 3 to 11 hours today.

The Memorial March is in memoriam for the original Bataan Death March which took place in the Philippines in 1942. For 60 miles the Japanese forcibly marched over 75,000 American and Philipino prisoners of war from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps. The Japanese were eventually charged with committing war crimes because of the wide ranging physical abuse and murder of the prisoners. Overall, after intentional starvation, shootings and the ending of soldiers lives for falling down or not keeping up. After a week of tropical heat and deplorable conditions along the route, only 54,000 soldiers finished the Bataan March alive. So around the world today soldiers remember the past that influence the actions of the military of today and is a somber remembrance of the human being’s ability to inflict cruelty on other human beings while we take sides in a conflict.

Instead of walking in the event, I took the lazy way out and did my “normal” Sunday morning events. Dropping off my laundry on the way to brunch and then going to the mall for some shopping. Okay, maybe it’s not a mall, but the PX (Post Exchange) does have enough stuff in the 2 story store to keep me occupied for at least 20 minutes!

By the time my morning activities were over I returned to my housing area and was overtaken by the most wonderful aroma from the multiple barbecues that were fired up. The Virgin Island soldiers had Caribbean music blasting and their spicy glaze was by far the most tantalizing to the taste buds. Down a few huts the Romanian contingent were roasting sausages and chicken and had their traditional homeland potato salad and sweet bread. North Dakotans were simmering ribs and baked beans while the Californians down the road were cooking some good ole burgers and hot dogs. On Saturday evening my soldier friends in the Logistics Section had a wonderful barbecue with baked potatoes and deserts sent from North Dakota.

The softball diamond was host to four teams that were getting the itch to enjoy the sunshine over a friendly game between the various task forces. It even looks like our MWR NCO is planning a McQuade’s Softball Tournament so that we can play at the same time the hundreds of teams from the Midwest get together in June. It’s pretty wonderful that a big business is willing to sponsor teams so far away from home. Too bad we all couldn’t just hop on a bus and drive over to the baseball diamonds in Bismarck.

Now I don’t want to give anybody the impression that we don’t work hard over here and all we do is play outside and hang out at barbecue parties with our friends, but…For many it was a welcomed break, for others they heard about the many activities while working at their assigned duties, and for some that are out on missions they don’t even have a clue to what was happing on Camp Bondsteel.

With any luck this change of weather will brighten up our days as we patiently count the time until our return home. While the grass begins to turn green and the leaves return back to the trees it will be a wondrous transformation as we watch our environment change before our very eyes and witness the new season.

Spring is in the air!

---