Last night, after a long and arduous journey, I finally found myself at the FOB (Forward Operating Base) which I will call home for the foreseeable future. We landed in a packed C-130 in the dark and on a gravel runway. From the time we stepped off of the plane we realized that we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Our FOB is a blackout base. That means no white light at night. Luckily we landed with a lot of light from the moon, so we were not totally dark. It’s kind of strange being surrounded by darkness when we’ve constantly spent our lives in bright white light. We have lights on the street, our houses, flood lights in the back yard, and even lights in our landscaping.
Tonight, when I went to eat dinner it was still light outside. After eating a quick meal I step outside into a pitch black world. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. For a brief moment I had a wave of panic rush over me. In about 1.8 seconds I wonder how I was going to get back to my room in the dark and if I really remembered which direction that I was supposed to walk. Then I remembered that I had two little LED lights on me.
I had a little blue light on my dog tags for emergencies. I also had a red LED clipped to my pistol holster. Then about 2 seconds after my initial shock, I had a soft red pocket of light beaming out in front of me.
With a deep breath and what I thought was the right way in my mind I took a few hesitant steps in the near darkness with my little red light playing out in front of me.
In a few seconds there was a welcome sight greeting me…The soft glow of stained glass windows in the chapel was telling me that I was going in the right direction.
The blackout policy is not all negative though. Once the moon decreases in intensity, I will be privy to a view of the stars unlike anything that I’ve ever witnessed.
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