The Gatherer
by
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CHAPTER 13 - 4TH DEPLOYMENT
AFGHANISTAN – (June - December 2013)
I've been working like crazy. Racked up 30 hours in two days. Went to take a shower and the airlines must have removed my shampoo. Had no time at all to go to the PX so looked around the tent where other people left things behind and found two bottles of Brut extra strength bottle shampoo for men. People may smell me from a mile away but I can tell you this, my hair has never been cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------0700.....130 degrees. This heat will steal the soul clear out of your body. I'm in the shade not moving a muscle and still sweating like a pig! It’s too hot to even think today....
------------------------------------------------------------------The dirt here is like baby powder and as you walk in it we all call it moon dust. Today the wind blew all day long. The dust was exhausting to deal with. The dirt stung and got in every part of our bodies. I kept tasting grit in my teeth. Had to take off my shoes multiple times to shake them out. By the end of the day the local nationals and I all looked like dust bunnies. The only one having a good time today was little truck.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Every morning, as I pick up my local nationals, I try and share my breakfast of boiled eggs and jellies with them. This evening, as they was packing up to leave for the day, one of the older men showed me his stash of two boiled eggs and about three jellies and asked if he could take home to his children. I am always grateful for the many blessings God has given me. Working with these humble people is one of them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------the local nationals, my little truck, and I have been working like crazy the past week. The heat is indescribable, the wind and dirt is beyond description, and the workload is physically hard. Needless to say all three of us are always filthy at the end of the day. So yesterday I decided to give little truck a bath and as the saying goes "the only thing that keeps it together is the dirt". That is true. As soon as little truck was washed the door handle fell off and it wouldn't start for two days. I'm sure there's a moral to this.
-----------------------------------------------------------I was driving little truck this morning and the key fell out while the engine was still on. It had no effect on little truck and I kept driving. Is this normal??? If not, I think little truck is trying to tell me something.....
----------------------------------------------------------------every day one of my local nationals hurts themselves. For the most part I will clean and wash the wound, wipe it with an alcohol pad, and then put on a band aid. Today they asked "are you a doctor" and my response was "no, I'm a mother".
---------------------------------------------------------------------today I helped one of the local nationals clean his leg from an injury. His whole leg bone was as round as my wrist. When the interpreter passed the band aid to him to put on he tried just putting it against the wound. We both showed him how to open and peel off the back. It’s amazing he's about 40 years old and this was the first time he ever saw a band aid. I enjoy learning and helping these humble people.
-----------------------------------------------------working with the local nationals today, while driving and escorting, all the truck drivers stop. I didn't think anything of it until the translator told me they are stopping and staring because I'm a woman and driving, and it was something they never saw before.
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About the Book
When my mother and stepfather signed me up to join the army at the age of seventeen, I don't really remember my reaction. I do remember that I had no idea what the army was. I had never been more than ten miles up or down the road, and that was mostly from riding the school bus. My life at that time consisted of books. If the paper had words on it, then it was in my hands. I loved stories. I loved the way the story would allow me to feel the emotion of the experience coming off the paper. For example, my seven-year-old nephew asked me one day, "Do you want to see my imagination?" I instantly said, "Yes, yes I would." Through the years, the army provided the opportunity to experience different cultures and meet some amazing people. I invite you to turn the page, and as you read, use your imagination to see and feel my experiences, starting with my second deployment to Iraq.
About the Author
SFC Tammy J. Goodwin, USAR, has over twenty-five years serving in the United States Army and Army Reserve. She entered the military at the age of seventeen, when she left her humble home in the hills of West Virginia. Her duty assignments include over ten years of overseas posts in Budapest, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Prague, Bonn, Kaiserslautern, Paris, Romania, and four deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan.