A brief Glimpse of Heaven.....
Many years ago I had the pleasure of going to Oman with my Navy MIUW unit. I was on the tiger team which means we deploy first and get the equipment set up. After several days of temperatures close to 130 F, we got acclimated to the conditions and set about the task at hand.
We set up our equipment near the edge of an Omani naval base and within 100 feet of the water.
After setting up and testing to make sure everything was going to work we had to set a watch and maintain till the rest of the unit arrived. I received the first night watch. We returned to the troop ship the Omani's had set up for us as it was still about 3 in the afternoon.
The three of us arrived back at the site about 8:30 at set about preparing to assume the watch.
Our equipment was about 15 feet from the chain link fence and constantina wire about the top and the previous watch had set up camoflouge sun break between the fence and our equipment. By now the word was out at the village, which was just 1/2 mile past the fence and off base, that some strange things were going just inside the base. 4 or 5 boys between 10 and 12 had gathered at the fence and what I suspect were their little sisters were staying a dutiful 100 feet away as their older male siblings had commanded. After trying for a while to talk in broken english they themselves were called away as the sun slowly disappeared into the sea. Evening prayers were announced and we went about continued work to get the site up to snuff.
I've been in other Arab countries and this was the first time I had felt a sense of security as the darkness began to grow. By about midnight the darkness unreal and only a few faint lights could be seen both in the base and the village. I with the other two had been extremely busy and had not really stopped and surveyed the scene. I climbed up on top of our equipment (10 feet off the ground and laid back and opened my eyes. The sky was filled with more stars than I in the midwest could comprehend. I felt closer to the stars almost like I was in space floating . A cooling breeze blew lightly over me and the gentle lapping of the waves brought me back to reality. My time on top was mere minutes but I lived years in those minutes. The shear magnitude of it all was so overwhelming that I can still bring it back as if it were now and my soul is still stirred by it.
We set up our equipment near the edge of an Omani naval base and within 100 feet of the water.
After setting up and testing to make sure everything was going to work we had to set a watch and maintain till the rest of the unit arrived. I received the first night watch. We returned to the troop ship the Omani's had set up for us as it was still about 3 in the afternoon.
The three of us arrived back at the site about 8:30 at set about preparing to assume the watch.
Our equipment was about 15 feet from the chain link fence and constantina wire about the top and the previous watch had set up camoflouge sun break between the fence and our equipment. By now the word was out at the village, which was just 1/2 mile past the fence and off base, that some strange things were going just inside the base. 4 or 5 boys between 10 and 12 had gathered at the fence and what I suspect were their little sisters were staying a dutiful 100 feet away as their older male siblings had commanded. After trying for a while to talk in broken english they themselves were called away as the sun slowly disappeared into the sea. Evening prayers were announced and we went about continued work to get the site up to snuff.
I've been in other Arab countries and this was the first time I had felt a sense of security as the darkness began to grow. By about midnight the darkness unreal and only a few faint lights could be seen both in the base and the village. I with the other two had been extremely busy and had not really stopped and surveyed the scene. I climbed up on top of our equipment (10 feet off the ground and laid back and opened my eyes. The sky was filled with more stars than I in the midwest could comprehend. I felt closer to the stars almost like I was in space floating . A cooling breeze blew lightly over me and the gentle lapping of the waves brought me back to reality. My time on top was mere minutes but I lived years in those minutes. The shear magnitude of it all was so overwhelming that I can still bring it back as if it were now and my soul is still stirred by it.
posted by Prairie Doug at 9:40 PM
1 Comments:
How amazing that must've been! A memory to cherish for a lifetime...
PS: Thanks for the sweet comments on my blog- I appreciate you reading... And keep in mind, I don't take "cards, horoscope, ect" serious- it's all "fantasy"...
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