The Dirty Boots by John F. Holm

Author:John F. Holm [Holm, John F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466948266
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Published: 2012-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

An Olive Green Christmas

When we arrived back at base, we learned that a shower tent with pumped and heated water had been built down by the river. A hot shower sounded so good to us that a dozen others and I had to go try it out. A poured concrete slab for a floor, with tent sides and no roof, it was great. Multiple showerheads lined the outside edges, and the water, which cascaded out, was hot and strong. As we entered the shower, there were several empty or partially full fifty-five gallon drums into which we dropped our filthy clothing. I’m sure it was classified hazardous waste. We then proceeded to grab a bar of soap and washcloth from a nearby table and take the first real shower many of us had had in several months. After getting clean and dry, there were fresh uniforms stacked up for the taking at the exit. Being clean and in clean clothing was wonderful, and we made our way back up to the company area and a big mail call. Due to the fact that we had been moving around so quickly on this last mission and because there were a lot of Christmas care packages from home, they had held our mail until we could catch up with it. It had already become dark by the time most of us settled down to read our mail and open the packages, but that did not dampen our spirits at all. Mail call and packages from home have always been a high point of every military man’s day. The letters helped to keep us focused on why we were doing our best to survive. The care packages I received had all sorts of wonderful items like pictures of my little brother Jack with Judge, the current family dog. I could almost smell the fall foliage of the big maple tree in my parents’ front yard. There were newspaper clippings of my brother Jim playing football and wrestling on the high school teams and a photo of Dad standing beside a deer he had harvested with his bow and arrows. There never seemed to be enough pictures of my Mom or girlfriend. There were audiotapes/letters with the voices from home and the current music, books to read, instant soups, and Kool-Aid, which helped to improve the taste of water treated with iodine tablets. Then there was Jiffy Pop; I was the platoon champ at cooking Jiffy Pop over a C-4 fire, without burning the popcorn. C-4 was a plastic explosive that came in bars, one inch thick, two inches wide, and ten inches long. Stick a blasting cap and fuse inside, and it created an exploding device, but cut it into thin wafers and light it with a match, and all it did was burn very hot and very fast. It was the GI’s field version of microwave cooking.

There were homemade treats to share, like cookies, which sometimes had been so bounced around that we ate them with a spoon.

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