[aziator]

Everyone has heard of the dust that is always in the air in Iraq, it can be suffocating at times. Here are a couple pics I took between yesterday and today. Yesterday visibility was coming down pretty good, enough that we couldn't take off. It was forcasted to be better today but as you can see, that isn't always the case.

Needless to say, it sucks when you are eating dust just walking outside. This is also a good observation for making the point that a weapon needs to be able to function in all conditions. Note, the wind is not blowing right now, the dust/grit is just hanging in the air.

 

[faawrenchbndr]

I know your pain.
I am a retired USAF Flying Crew Chief.
I retired in 2005, we in the Tanker world were just starting to
deploy there when I got out. I have, however, deployed nine
times to Saudia Arabia. I know how irritating the sand/silt can be.

Take care, watch your tail!

 

[TerraShrewsbury]

I lived in Kanab for a while. Nothing like red dirt being blow directly into your eyes nonstop, eh? ;D

 

[roughneck2zero]

A guy at work has a vid on his email of a dust storm in the middle east somewhere a few years ago on one of our bases. It was INSANE, it looked just like that scene in The Mummy. Day turned into black night in a few minutes. Man, I was waiting for a face to appear in the front of that dust cloud. There a great line in it. The GI videoing it and watching it roll in, said "this is going to fuuuuck us up".

EDIT: I found some good ones on YouTube (not the one my buddy has though). Type in "big dust storm" & it should be the first one. But there are many other crazy vids.