Hiraqi Freedom

By the time I got to know the guys who first turned me on to this stuff, we had taken to driving out the gate to make quick stops at some of the various stores set up in old ratty trailers on the corner of the main highway. The first time I went with them we pulled up next to one trailer and all jumped out. They each went into different shacks, while I stayed outside trying to look as if on guard for a legitimate transaction. Back in these days everyone still stopped in town and at the stores along the side of the road on the way to town for cokes, cigarettes, blankets and other legitimate offerings. Nobody would make you out for corrupt back then, if they happened to see a single truck parked outside one of the vendor stands, especially these ones right outside the gate since many people working around the gate would make quick runs to pick up ice and cold drinks, thus far un available on post. We made out biggest hauls then, one time picking up at least twenty bottles of booze and several pieces of hash. It did not take very long, with attacks on the increase and I’m sure higher ups getting wise to more and more empty bottles along the sides of the road and in trash piles. Paranoia usually precedes actual incident, and this was no exception. Soon rumors of people staking out such vendors of ill repute, which seemed like a logical and easy thing to do, since these places had little to offer other than liquor. Next came stories of trucks getting searched upon reentering the base. This would be a sure bust if holding a bunch of bottles, but with a pocketful of blocks I don’t think much chance existed of getting hit. Also, I don’t really think anyone was really on the lookout for the smokeable intoxicants, even now. After making a few more runs my nerves got the best of me and I decided to find an alternative method of acquiring our wares. With an abundance of kids always out in the receiving area, where all the legitimate vendors linked up with military people to sell all the stuff we used to go into town for, like wire, electronics, appliances and who knows what else. By this time more and more people had grown wary of making stops in town, if not just for their own safety, but also cause it would be hard to explain why they took the risk, which seemed to be growing, whether or not it was really an irrelevant matter, the risk was perceived and so better to just have the locals do the shopping for you. This was the approach I mimicked by getting the kids to run down to the stores for us. Sometimes they would have it on them already, which is what gave me the idea to begin with, but usually were not in possession of the amounts we desired. While this seemed safer both on an attack victim level and also as to getting caught outside without the requisite three trucks, a sure bust, the prices actually got lower. Our best haul cost somewhere around $120, for which we got like five smaller blocks and three rather large hunks. This almost seemed too good to be true, and in a way it was, at least too good to last. The kids, being quick and crafty little business minded fucks, soon figured out that we were doing something not entirely sanctioned by the army, and knew that mp’s were dicks, and figured that we would not really want to have the mp’s knowing that we were not purchasing mere bootleg sex disks or cheap knives. So the first time they started asking for more money at the threat of turning us in, extorting from us, was also the last time I made any purchases that way. That was certainly the most exciting, infuriating, frustrating and memorable buying spree though.