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Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Naked Ugandan - a story from my last deployment

I recently traveled to one of our FOBs where I saw a lot of paratroopers and one naked Ugandan. Many of our security personnel are Ugandans - very professional and meticulous in performance of their duties .
The Ugandan was in the shower when Chief Cropp, one of my office mates traveling with me, and I went to what the Air Force calls the "Cadillac" (the Army doesn't use that term and it was more the size of a compact Chevy). Chief got there in front of me and had shaving cream on his face and razor in hand when I entered the shower trailer. Just after I entered, the Ugandan popped out of the shower with no towel on and began applying lotion to his under moisturized areas - which were everywhere. Chief deftly left me a sink to shave at, but it was between him and the naked lotion'ing Ugandan.
That was all that was between Chief and the Ugandan, so I stood there with all of my personal hygiene equipment in my arms thinking. I was thinking for about two seconds before I told Chief we had to leave. He looked at me conflicted - with shaving cream on his face and a razor in his hand. He protested slightly, but I stated flat out in my loudest voice, "if that dude doesn't put on a towel or some shorts, I am leaving!" Chief then found inspiration and thought to ask about the hot water situation. The Ugandan confirmed that there was no hot water, so
Chief agreed to leave and we went to more modest (and I mean that in more ways than one) accommodations.
Looking back on the incident, that Ugandan probably had 10 or 11 roommates, so two dudes in the shower trailer was as much privacy as he could hope for. That being said, I am not an overly modest fellow, but personal space rules have to be strictly enforced when the dress code allows for birthday suits. There was just not enough personal space for three grown men in that shower trailer.
Hope you all get a smile from that story. That and a trip to the Iraqi Barbar (that is how they spelled it) shop for a haircut were the only excitement on the whole trip.

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