As the creator of this task, I was most certainly planning to do it. And of course, it had to be on towel day, May 25th. But when I first came up with the idea, I had no idea what my day would be like. Would I be back in Baghdad or still on R&R in Quatar? If in Baghdad, would it be a regular work day, a duty day, or a day off? As far as ease in doing this task went, it would certainly have been simpler had I still been in Quatar or on a day off. But no. Well, I could probably have pulled it off on a regular work shift - everyone there thinks I'm strange anyway. But no, again. You guessed it, May 25th just happened to fall on a duty day.

Let me explain duty days. Once a month or so, I get a special assignment to the base as a Local National Escort. As local nationals come on base to work, one of us lucky folks gets assigned to escort them about their way making sure they aren't hitting any dead drops or planting bombs, etc. We have to wear our full "Battle Rattle" and carry our weapons in an "Amber" state. We can't be friendly with our charges or take pictures (so, sorry about the minimal proof.) In addition, if that weren't enough, today turned out to be a battle drill day, so everyone was required to also carry around their Chem gear. (You can see it in my pic strapped to my left leg.) I knew that I was definitely going to stand out, and might even be stopped and counseled for being "out of uniform." But, I figured if I was going to do it, I might as well do it big. I owed Douglas Adams at least that much. :)

My day started at 0500. I got geared up, added the towel and headed to chow. No one questioned my towel at breakfast, but I did get a few looks. I was hoping for some curiosity so that I could give my first explanation of towel use - makeshift picnic table cloth - but for some reason, no one approached me. Then it was off to get assigned. Here, I got my picture taken and had my first question of the day. I told them about towel day and there were actually one or two people there who at least knew of Douglas Adams and understood the reference. But, universally, it was decided I was a weirdo for actually observing towel day.

In the spirit of the task, I waxed eloquently about Douglas Adams to all who would listen and offered the following uses for my towel:

1. Knee pad (useful when firing from the kneeling position)
2. Tourniquet
3. Gloves for handling hot weapons (it was 120 degrees out)
4. Surrender flag (for them, not us!)
5. Head covering (shade, sweet shade)
6. A weapon (dipped in water and twisted - that stings!)
7. Disguse (makes a great turban - I would have blended right in)
8. Distraction - a similar principal works against bulls, after all.
9. Camoflage (as if I didn't have enough already)
10. Comfy bedding (after duty, not during)
11. Stretcher/litter to retrieve my fallen companions.
42. Makeshift restraint for unruly insurgents.