My number one annoying memory is my fly experience. I had only seen footage of the little flying pest on the Discovery channel and never really new how horrible they could really be. I developed a pattern of constantly waiving my hands in front of my face as I talked. This would prevent them from entering my mouth or landing anywhere on my face. It was as if they were in existence and bread for only one purpose, too annoy. They were like little kamikazes with no fear. Too bad for them though, the military developed a gravel like poison that we spread all over the ground and would attract and kill them by the millions. Every couple hours we would have to sweep the area because the dead flies would pile up so high and fast, you couldn't see the ground anymore.
The heat was another difficult obstacle of the environment. It felt like I never would acclimate to the scorching temperatures. The days were long and hot and the nights were short and still hot. It was hard adjusting to being constantly wet from your own sweat. Our orders were to drink at least 4 canteens full of water every day. At the same time we had to ration our water because it was scarce and worth its weight in gold. We were only allowed a shower every third day, and the shower consisted of a canteen cup of water and a wash cloth. .
Sleep deprivation was high on my list of memories. We were on patrol every 4 hours, 4 hours on and 4 hours off. During the off time, we were responsible for normal daily duties. Eating, sleeping, cleaning, standing watch and preparing for the next patrol, were just some of the responsibilities needing to be done. Having such little time to sleep in addition to the heat and the many other hardships of the environment all added to our sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep is never something that you can get used to or catch up on. Once it is gone, it is lost forever. .
I had watch in the middle of the night just about every other day.