A short story

Steve B · 2010-04-13T15:11:16+00:00

From the Sand Pit it's freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains , along theDar 'yoi Pomir River , watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands ofmiles. I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to avoid another scorpion sting. I've actually given up battling the chiggers and sand fleas, but the scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod. Hurts like a bastard.. The antidote tastes like transmission fluid, but God bless the Marine Corps for the five vials of it in my pack. The one truth the Taliban cannot escape is that, believe it or not,they are human beings, which means they have to eat food and drink water. That requires couriers and that's where an old bounty hunter like me comes in handy. I track the couriers, locate the tunnel entrances and storage facilities, type the info into the handheld, shoot the coordinates up to the satellite link that tells the air commanders where to drop the hardware.We bash some heads for a while, then I track and record the new movement. It's all about intelligence. We haven't even brought in the snipers yet. These scurrying rats have no idea what they're in for. We are but days away from cutting off supply lines and allowing the eradication to begin. I dream of bin Laden waking up to find me standing over him with my boot on his throat as I spit into his face and plunge my nickel-plated Bowieknife through his frontal lobe. But you know me, I'm a romantic. I've saidit before and I'll say it again: This country blows, man. It's not even a country. There are no roads, there's no infrastructure, there's nogovernment. This is an inhospitable, rock pit shit hole ruled by eleventh century warring tribes. There are no jobs here like we know jobs. Afghanistan offers two ways for a man to support his ...

Apr 13, 2010 30 Replies

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John R. Carroll 16 years ago

Several reasons but one is a hangover, if you will, from the Russian campaign. The conscripts are young and in a country as poor as Afghanistan, are "lifers".

They end up with a strong national identity and see the drug trade as a threat rather than an opportunity. They also have the example of Pakistan right next door. The Pakistani army is nearly a entity in its own right whose primary purpose, or one of them, is to protect the national identity when necessary from internal political upheaval.

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Don Foreman 16 years ago

LOL!!!

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Don Foreman 16 years ago

Well said!

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John R. Carroll 16 years ago

The only way a scorpion will attack a human is if you step on it, or otherwise muck it around. Sort of like what a person might do to one closing in an anything warm and in your lap. I handled them when I was living in NM and didn't suffer from the experience. Not from a sting anyway.

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John R. Carroll 16 years ago

LOL Between you and Gunner the entire country will be surrounded!

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Don Foreman 16 years ago

They'll crawl into boots, attracted by residual warmth, so if one takes off boots on bivouac where scorpions be it's a good idea to shake boots good before putting them back on.

Scorpions are predators, so their degree of aggressiveness will depend on ambient temperature and level of hunger. I recall one in a C-ration can, hot weather, hitting that sucker like a stacatto cymbal.

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Larry Jaques 16 years ago

On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:26:02 -0500, the infamous Don Foreman scrawled the following:

Wow, the little bastids are truly Al Qaeda material. These insect terrorists hunker down and have a bunker mentality when conditions warrant, then pop out and wreak havoc when they want, during more favorable conditions. ;)

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Steve B 16 years ago

I live in snowy country, and they are all over the place, just more active in different times of the year.

Steve

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RBnDFW 16 years ago

No kidding? First of heard that. In fact I've seen reports and videos indicating they are worthless dopeheads.

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RBnDFW 16 years ago

I battle those little bastards every year here in DFW. Our house is built on a sandstone rocky hill, which apparently is heaven for scorpions. When it gets hot and dry they start coming into the house. Fortunately, I have 3 cats that live to hunt, and scorpions are their

2nd favorite toys (May flies are #1). We would prefer that they kill them more quickly than they do.

But even better is finding them before they get in. I do that with a UV flashlight. Those little suckers light up like the sun when you hit them with a blacklight. Remeber those psychedelic blacklight posters from when you were a kid, and some had scorpions on them? Same thing, same color - yellow-green. It has to be seen to be appreciated. It's pretty amazing, and a bit fun now. One lap around the house before bed with a UV flashlight and a can of Raid.

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John R. Carroll 16 years ago

Says the man and his 8' centipede and BS insurance stories. LOL Credible you are not.

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