Don’t Eat Yellow Snow

And watch what you’re drinking. We get Gatorade and Crystal Light packets to mix with water, as well as instant tea, and Kool Aid. Most soldiers just figure out the proper amount to pour into a half liter or one and a half liter bottle and mix the beverage in the bottle. You’ll see soldiers drinking red, green, orange, purple, yellow or brown liquid form the water bottles.

Of course, soldiers also use the bottles to spit in when they chew tobacco. And, the one and a half liter bottles are popular to use as, uh, chamber pots. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, one soldier said to me, it’s good enough for him.

Rather than get dressed and walk to the restroom, some soldiers choose to refill the large water bottles instead. Making Budweiser, some people would say. This is not limited to the male soldiers, though I’m sure it’s more prevalent among them. I heard the story of a KBR A/C repairman who went into a female CHU. Two female soldiers lived there, one of whom had some refilled bottles. The repairman knocked one over, and unfortunately the lid wasn’t on tight. It fell to the other roommate to clean up that hazardous waste spill, and she subsequently requested a new roommate.

I’ve been in CHUs with several large bottles of yellow liquid stacked on a shelf, or against the wall, or just lying around. For a while, the soldiers threw the bottles in the dumpster. The garbage men objected, so the soldiers had to either disguise the bottles before throwing them in the dumpster, or empty them in the restroom.

Just for the record, I don’t subscribe to the “if it’s good enough for the founding fathers” theory; no refilled bottles in my room.