IRAQ

MacGyver in Mesopotamia

Silly String, tampons, Saran Wrap: U.S. soldiers in Iraq get innovative.

 
 
 

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It took Marcelle Shriver nearly a year—and hundreds of donations—to pack up 80,000 cans of Silly String to send to her son in Iraq. This was no lighthearted care package: Todd and his fellow soldiers were using the foamy substance to detect trip-wired explosives by squirting the string across a room and watching how it fell. It was a creative response to an ever-changing war and, as it turns out, one of the many innovative tactics being used by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chewing tobacco kills: Some troops have taken to eating raw tobacco to kill stomach worms that come from local foods. Veterinarians even recommend mixing it with pet food to get rid of parasites in cats and dogs.

Put your butt to use: Cigarette butts are a perfect fit for gun barrels and can help keep out dirt, sand or water. And they shoot out easily when the weapon is fired. For non-smokers, there are other options: in Vietnam, soldiers rubber-banded condoms around the tops of their guns.

Makeshift medics: Tampons are great for plugging up bullet wounds, soldiers say, and nothing seals a punctured chest like Saran Wrap. Sealed lips: After cholera scares hit the region, some soldiers began using lip balm—or Vaseline—to coat their mouths when they showered, to keep out contaminated water.

Sticky situation: During her training at Fort Dix, N.J., Spc. Cynthia Brabant got in the habit of putting tape, sticky-side up, around her bed to catch poisonous insects. Now in Baghdad, she stretches socks over her boots at night to keep the scorpions out. "It's kind of silly," she says, "but it works."

© 2007

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  • Posted By: cnstanceybangz @ 08/22/2008 12:10:41 AM

    hello mah name is hinga but people call me cnstancey bangz....um i wish i could join the military like u and um i watched 2020 and it was da boom

  • Posted By: Letusdoourjob @ 12/09/2007 1:00:09 AM

    WOW! Thank you Silvia for this positive story. I really appreciate you as a journalist and as a person. Especially because I am the SPC you quoted. :) Thank you.
    "All you winning people, pour yourself a nice cup of SHUT the He^^ up. And let us do our job."
    As for the rest of you: I am here in Iraq, are you? I see what happens here, do you? I hear the weapons and t he car bombs, do you? Exactly! Some days it is people like you that make soldiers rethink why they joined the military. The ungrateful pieces of dirt that I step on everyday. Who do you think you are to go on a blog and hurt soldiers like that. There is good things going on here. We are helping this country defend themselves and helping this country in ways you can't even imagine. I see Iraqi civilians put their life on the line everyday. That motivates me to continue to protect them and to continue to do my job the best I can because they are relying on me to do so. In times of need we are supposed to stick together til the end. Moral of me posting this is that Silvia did a good thing...don't make it negitive. For more positive information for those of you that can appreciate it go to MNF-IRAQ.com. For the rest of you: if you get off hurting someone look in the mirror don't put someone down because your life is useless. Get off you but and do something about it. Join the military, become a senator but until you do something about you have no right (even as an American) to complain about something that you dont' understand.

  • Posted By: Charlie777 @ 12/04/2007 10:07:23 PM

    Great reporting Spring our soldiers are brave and imaginative. We are learning to fight a new war and we are wining . That is why casualties have diminished

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