Rare Iraq snowfall lifts troops' spirits
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq — Schofield Barracks soldiers have experienced blowing sand in Kuwait, bone-chilling rain followed by lots of mud in Kirkuk, and they know it gets to be 120-plus degrees in the summer.
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But what came yesterday afternoon was yet another surprise in Iraq: a snowstorm.
Pfc. Kelly Ward, 19, of C Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, makes a snowman outside his company's command post on Kirkuk Air Base.
Snowball fights ensued; an Air Force bus driver from North Carolina got out to feel the flakes on her face; and for a couple of hours, the hard edges of a war zone were blanketed in soft white.
"That one snowball fight is the one time this place has felt like home," said 1st Lt. Josh Grenard, 23, a suburban Chicagoan with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry.
Ayoob Mohammed, 26, an Iraqi interpreter for Charlie Company, said it rarely snows in Kirkuk, where palms are more indicative of the climate.
"The last time it snowed here was like five or six years ago," Mohammed said.
Several inches accumulated, and even though the temperature was close to freezing, soldiers had a blast.
Even Chainr Berzo, 10, the son of the company barber, joined soldiers in hurling snowballs.
Pfc. Kelly Ward, 19, from Mount Morris, Ill., made a foot-tall soldier snowman, complete with helmet.
"I never thought this would happen," Ward said. "Actually, when I went home for leave last year for Christmas, it never snowed, so this is the only snow I've seen in two years."
Cpl. Chris Morales, 22, from Waipahu, saw snow for the first time just two years ago on a trip to the Mainland.
"I always thought (Iraq) was all dust and sand," said Morales, who is with 2nd Brigade, Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
Sgt. Richard Gallego, 24, a 1-21 scout, cupped snow in his hands outside the shipping container that is his home.
"In 1984, in San Antonio, it snowed when I was 5 years old. I haven't seen snow since then," Gallego said.
For Charlie Company, the several-hour snowstorm was a stress reliever. The company has been escorting crews working on oil pipelines, helped blow up an enemy bomb, and has conducted joint patrols with the Air Force.
Spc. Rob Metcalf, 27, posed for pictures in the falling snow in his brown Army T-shirt, sunglasses propped on his forehead.
"This is definitely a morale booster," he said. "Who would have thought that snow in Iraq would be a morale booster?"
