My Sunday column in the Register will feature a Connecticut serviceman commenting about his job in Afghanistan. Here's a added bit from his journals about a mission to a nearby tower in the mountains:
I saw a few critters while I was up there.. The afghans caught a scorpion which they put in a Gatorade bottle. My guys caught 2 spiders the size of my palm, seriously, they are huge here. They put them in this container together and less than 3 minutes later one had killed the other and was beating him with one of his legs to ensure his death. We also found a huge centipede which the Afghans immediately killed. There were a good amount of wasps while we were up there. We never found the nest but they kept flying inside for whatever reason. These Afghan wasps are like a golden red in color and bigger than ones you see in the US. I was lying on my bed half asleep and turned over and my arm landed right on one. The wasp bit my arm off, well not literally but it felt like it had. Because it tore a chunk of my skin off, I was in pain for a while especially with no ice. ...
This Journal is dedicated to 4 soldiers from my base that were wounded in a recent firefight. One of them got shot in the back under his armor and is now a paraplegic. I don’t know these soldiers personally but we are still close as we fight for the same cause...