Notes on Temperatures in a Warzone

The first bard published in response to Matadors new call for nonlinear narratives, Jake Reed reflects upon his experience in Afghanistan by opposite temperatures.

Afghanistan. Photo: US Army

125 Fahrenheit

Doha, Qatar, summer 2010. My bottle of frozen water is warm after a 100-yard travel from a food gymnasium to my tent. My moody to Afghanistan leaves in fifteen minutes. you wont return for 6 months. They emanate me my arms as well as physique armor. They give me my final instructions. you travel opposite a runway as well as feel a feverishness ring up my legs. The C-130 lowers a load doorway as well as you shuffle inside.

-65.2 to 176 Fahrenheit

The handling heat of a 5.56mm round which goes in to my M4 Carbine. you have ninety of them unresolved upon my vest. This means which when all else breaks, you can still fire something.

I havent shot any one yet. Most of us havent. We awkwardly rope our rifles over our backs as well as impact them in to doorways as well as kneecaps. We insert scopes you hope to never use. you have certain a in a background during your convenience Im upon Skype.

14 Fahrenheit

The heat during which my iPod officially stops working. you chuck it opposite a room as well as it bounces off a plywood wall. Im upon a pointless mountain in Afghanistan. you havent slept in 32 hours. you curl in to my sleeping bag as well as try to shudder myself to sleep. My M4 is a feet away. Its loaded. you stare by a bullet holes in a tin doorway as well as see a full moon outside.

Photo: US Army

3.56 Fahrenheit

The volume a heat drops with each thousand feet of altitude. The loadmaster opens a Blackhawk doors so a gunners can reply to any threat during takeoff. The breeze whips by a he! licopter as well as smacks me in a face. My steel piece is a usually reason is doesnt rip off my cap. you shove my hands in to my pockets as well as fold my legs in to my chest. you left my gloves in a tent.

I look during a soldier opposite from me. Hes carrying a sniper rifle. He looks up as well as smiles hes just as cold as you am. The higher you fly, a colder it gets. you look out a doorway as well as see mountains. Theyre lonesome with trees. In a distance you see taller plateau lonesome in snow. The object rises over a range as well as all is colored gold. Ive never seen a more pleasing landscape.

208 Fahrenheit

The steeping indicate of Rooibos tea from Teavana. Someone must have sent it in a caring package. you dont caring about a perfect cup you just wish something warm. you flow boiling water over a tea leaves. you set my stopwatch for 5-6 minutes as well as look around. you just landed back during a front office as well as Im a dirtiest thing in this room. you unsling my M4 as well as gaunt it opposite my desk. you take off a forty pounds of panzer division as well as dump it to a floor.

I need a shower. you need sleep. you need to slow down before you burn out.

I record onto my mechanism as well as start responding to emails. The phone rings. My colleagues come back from lunch. you dont get to nap for an additional fourteen hours. you forget all about my tea.

98.6 Fahrenheit

The handling heat of a human body. The heat of a red blood which flows by your veins. The heat of a red blood which pours from shrapnel wounds as well as seeps along a floor of a Heath Craige Joint Theater Hospital in Bagram. Im here to get an infection upon my feet looked at. Two soldiers are being medevaced to Rammstein after an IED went off during a routine patrol. The ambulance idles outside. The moody crew is fueling a C-17 upon a runway. Angry passengers travel out of a air depot complaining which their moody was being rerouted to Germany. you step over a trail of red blood as ! well as fill out a sign-up piece for sick call.

My plane leaves in a month.

Community Connection

For more wartime writing, please see Daniel Britts records upon traveling overland by Iraq as well as Afghanistan.


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