Operation Iraqi Freedom – Sandstorm (March 25, 2003)

A Birthday to remember

On March 25, 2003, a low-pressure system dragged sand and dust from the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian deserts into Iraq.

It was five days into the War in Iraq and on the Eve of my 22nd Birthday!

This Sandstorm From Hell swept through Baghdad and across the greater Tigris and Euphrates valleys with gusts up to 50 miles an hour… Everything turned a yellowish orange hue, the wind kept picking up and the visibility dropped fast. It was like a scene from The Mummy.

Dust and grit worked it’s way into every crevice of our weapons and vehicles. It was in our eyes, in our ears, in our throats, in our nose, all up in our chemical weapons suits. There was sand everywhere -and I do mean everywhere (I’ll spare you the details) 😖

The icing on the cake (Birthday pun intended)

And that was just during the day! At “night” it started to rain! I put night in quotes because technically the sandstorm had already shutout the sun.

With the rain came lightening! And the drops of rain would turn into little balls of mud in the dust filled sky that began to fall onto and into everything!

This went on for 3 days.

When you’re at war it’s easy to lose track of the days

I was on watch when it started raining that first night and my “foxhole” quickly turned into a mud hole.

Meanwhile I’m supposed to be on “watch” but couldn’t really see a damn thing! Drenched, muddy, my senses heightened as I sat in my fighting hole… I looked down through my night vision goggles at my time piece and that’s when I realized – it was 12:01am on March 26th, my Birthday! What a way to start my 22nd year, I’ll definitely never forget that moment.

It would be another month before I was able to take a proper shower. 😲

Here’s to embracing the suck and building character for the love of Corps and Country. 🇺🇲

– Semper Fi and God Speed, Marine Miguel.