Veteran’s Corner

 Tom Krabbenhoft

On Wednesday, August 2nd from 2-4 pm The Fargo National Cemetery is holding an open house. Address is 8709 40th Ave. North, Harwood. Take Cass County 20 west and it takes you there.

There will be folks from the VA there. You can have questions about burial eligibility and volunteer opportunities answered. Any questions call 701 451-4650. The Fargo Memorial Honor Guard will be there. They are looking for volunteers to join.

Please come out and see how peaceful and serene our National Cemetery is. Thanks to the VA staff for putting this on.

If you’ve been in the military traveling to strange places poses challenges in itself. It seems every place holds a different terrifying insect one is not familiar with. I’ve had some hard lessons. I thought I’d share a couple of where and what.

Ft. Polk LA. Chiggers; they are small mites that feed on blood. They feast around the armpits, top of socks and waistbands. A few weeks there left me with dozens perhaps hundreds of rashes.

McGregor Range, NM. is in the middle of nowhere. Desert training and missile ranges is it.  Visit the bathroom of the old WW2 style wood barracks. Several cockroaches would crawl out of water pipe insulation dropping unto unsuspecting latrine users.

Ft. Benning GA. learning how to cross water in stagnant swamps and rivers. You are required to submerge yourself and not move your arms to keep a low wake. We were constructing a rope bridge which required several trips through the water. Exiting the murky, muddy water wet from head to toe. I had that feeling, you know when someone finds a woodtick, you feel covered with them. I dropped my trousers and to my horror had several leaches attached. I regretted two things that day. Having my pants rolled up and not tucked into my boots and going commando. Removal was a bit traumatic. Getting yelled at in the process made it more memorable. My focus was water moccasins that day, like any other northerner.

Ft. Sill OK, whatever reason stands out as the spider capital. The brown tarantulas were abundant. A red lense on a flashlight would reflect off their eyes. Scorpions were aplenty as well.

Alaska, especially in the deep interior the mosquitoes would be prehistoric in size and loud. Sitting in a Humvee I could hear them buzzing about outside.

We had tricks to avoid them. Eating several matchheads would keep the bugs at bay. Military formulated “bug dope” was another. Keeping that on however posed its own problems, as bug spray is toxic.

By far the worse mosquitoes are along the Red River in south Moorhead. I thought of my service time and bugs after three young men emerged with fishing poles from the woods. They flailed their free arms fast enough I thought they’d take flight. I offered spray but one of them had breathing trouble, caused by the spray contact.

I wanted to regale them in tales of my bug experiences but they scurried away. If any of them see this article I want to tell them I feel their mosquito pain.

Send your veteran-related content to me at 11btwk@gmail.com.