I’ve been wounded!
I don’t know if it’s made the news back home yet, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Of course I had hoped it would be at the end of a glittering career as a war photographer. We were warned earlier in the afternoon to expect an imminent attack, and to wear or carry our body armour and helmet at all times. A few hours passed and I relaxed, thinking it was no big deal. I decided to eat before it got dark, as it’s difficult to prepare a meal in the dark, even an MRE (Meals Ready to Eat). These meals in a foil pack are great, but very fiddly, so it’s best to cut them open and get the whole process underway before last light. I made my way to my sleeping area, and sat down, after taking off my armour. I was just cutting open the wrapper when, BOOM!!!
The sound of the explosion made me jump, and then I felt the pain. Shocked, I looked down to see blood!
Yes, that’s right, I had a very nasty paper-cut on my right index finger The sound of OUTGOING artillery had caused me to jerk, dragging my finger along the sharp foil wrapper, resulting in a nice neat gash.
The prognosis is good though, as the medical specialist (me) cleaned the wound and believes I won’t lose the finger. Sorry to have worried you all though.
On a more serious note, I’ve had a good day after a bad night. Well not bad exactly, but cold and loud. You see, I’m in the dog-house with the army. Or to be more precise, I am sharing a tent with two dog handlers, and their dogs. At least I have a cot to sleep on, and a canvas over my head. Unfortunately the dogs like to bark at anything and the tent is open at the front, where they put me. It was fairly mild when I went to bed, about 8pm local time, but I woke up later in the night and it was fucking freezing. Of course my thermal liner for my sleeping bag was buried in my backpack, and as soon as I started rustling around looking for it, the bloody dogs were off again. So in the end I just shivered, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Shivering, it turns out, does not lead to a refreshing nights sleep.
On the plus side, I was up to see the dawn, which I never do in London. Fresh coffee made from a percolator, a yummy (urgh) breakfast of prawn and ham jambalaya, (the rule with MRE’s is that what ever you pick out of the box you have to eat) and I was all set for the day. It was still cold, so I wrapped up in my nice new Snug-Pak, super warm pull over which is waterproof outside and warm wool inside, and a woolly hat, just like everyone else. This was a good tip from one of my friends, you know who you are, and I was very glad of it.
I do love being out in this environment, as opposed to a big base like KAF. Here, everything is a picture. A guy climbing out of his dust covered sleeping bag here, and someone eating his breakfast while examining a map over there. Of course I couldn’t actually shoot either, because the guy in the bag was sleeping beside a structure I’m not allowed photograph, and the map is classified. But you know what I mean.
I spent the day hanging out in an OP (Observation Post) with some of the guys from A company. These guys are from the 2nd Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), and you may remember I was with 1st PPCLI last trip. One of the guys celebrates his 21st birthday tomorrow, the last one in the company, so I shot some special “hero” photos for him to send home to his parents and girlfriend. I got some other nice pics too, but it is difficult shooting in the base because there is lots of restricted stuff I can’t show. Still, the guys were happy to put up with me so I took as much time as I needed. It’s quite a climb up to the OP, so I stayed and ate lunch with them, and of course there was the usual bitching about what was in the rations, but as these guys have been eating them for 3 months I guess it’s understandable that they get fed up with the limited options.
When I finally said I was heading back down, they told me to watch out for the viper. Apparently there is a very poisonous snake living in a crevice about half way down the narrow path, which they have so far failed to kill. Now I don’t know which would be worse, getting bitten by the little beast, or falling down the mountain after jumping out of his way. They said “just shoot it,” but of course I am the only person on the whole base who doesn’t have a gun. As you know, I survived, only to be wounded later in the day. War is hell!