Duty in the Dunes

About the Book

The day most soldiers avoid their whole lives, the day has finally come for me. As a new soldier in today’s ARMY, I’m not too sure what to expect. I just joined the army in January and stationed with 1-34 AR our of Ft. Riley, Kansas. Arriving in Kansas in June 26, 2003, the first thing I was told was “don’t bother packing your bags,” from a fellow soldier. A mere few months later, here I sit in a staging base in Kuwait already digging the sand out of my ears. I knew this country was a desert, but this is ridiculous. I could fart right now and have a dust storm follow me for hours. As soon as I stepped off the plane this morning in the Kuwait airport and walked into the unbearable wall of heat that just about blew me off the stairs. The Mojave Desert has nothing on this place.

Signed,

Pope

P.S. I’m a cook.

About the Author

About the author Born into a simple, close knit town in California in October of 1983. As it transpired I was to be the eldest of four children. As far back as I can remember I had a love for words and food. In the late part of 2003 I decided to take up the offer of a place in the Army where I could indulge my other passion…food. I became a cook for the United States Army, shortly after I was deployed to Iraq. As it was in the early stages of the conflict, many were as confused but as determined as I to do our duty. I was, still am, immensely proud to be a part of the fight for freedom. In the year or so I spent there I found inspiration for my poetry, an unlikely source you may think, but as it turned out, soldier’s indeed have heart’s too. Amongst the turmoil that has become known as ’The Sand box’ I was moved on many occasions by the experience of my fellow service men and women. This prompted me to write poems to feed my own writers soul as I fed their stomachs. I am sure that any serving man or woman reading will be able to identify with the emotions that run through my work. Thanks, Spc. Christopher Pope