What did Dewey do?

Between where soldiers live and the chow hall, wetlands have developed. Gray water, water from sinks and showers, drains into a large holding tank. The gray water used to be pumped out and into tankers to be taken to a sewage treatment facility, or at least off the FOB. Black water from the toilets is still pumped and hauled away, but they quit trucking off the gray water because of lack of trucks, I think.

A large drainage ditch cuts across the path from the living area to the chow hall, and into this ditch the gray water is pumped. The water flows down the ditch and ends up in a holding pond, where it seeps into the ground, or evaporates. The ditch is uneven and the low spots always contain standing water because the holding tank is emptied daily. Reeds and plants are growing, and it attracts birds, so a little habitat is developing.

The gray water is laden with soap, phosphates I guess, which is nutrient for aquatic plant life, algae looking stuff. The ditch and ponds are lined with sheets of algae, the rocks thorough and over which the water flows are green and scummy, and the water smells like the drain in your kitchen sink.

People being human, they do not want to walk around the ditch so they cut across it. At two or three crossing points, large rocks form stepping stones. Since the rocks can be slick, and since the water is nasty, you tend to pay attention to where you’re stepping. Crossing the ditch on the way to lunch today, I noticed that someone has left a message written on one of the stepping stones, where it is sure to be read: “F**k off, Dewey!” Not exactly a message in a bottle, but it gets the point across.