For most people, sleep habits change radically in a combat zone. In the 12 months that I was in Iraq, I never slept more that 4-5 hours a night and never had a dream. In 12 months. The amount of sleep seemed to be fine, although sometimes I would take an hour nap at work. I would slip out to the “secure room” where we had our secure computers and communications and sleep on the sofa we had there. But no dreams. Finally, the last night I spent in Baghdad, I had a dream. I dreamt that I came home and the entire living room of my house was covered with human feces. Everything – the couch, the chairs, the TV, everything. Then I woke up. Strange. What the hell did that mean? For the first six months I was there, I slept with my loaded M-16 physically in my sleeping bag with me. It was uncomfortable at first, but you got used to it.
Anyway, one night I was awakened by my roommate Kenny. He wasn’t awake. But he stood up, grabbed his pistol and walked into the living room. He pointed his pistol at the front door. I thought he heard something and grabbed my rifle. I was expecting some insurgents to bust in the front door guns ablazing. Nothing happened. I turned on the lights and realized that Kenny was sleepwalking. I woke him up and he was completely disoriented. I explained what happened and we went to bed.
Sometime later, in the middle of the night I felt the urge to go the bathroom. I opened my eyes (or thought I did) and realized that I was also standing at the front door with my pistol in my hand pointing at the door! A lot of the people in my house confessed to sleepwalking while we were in Baghdad. Has anyone done a study on this?
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The sleepwalking with a loaded firearm is a little scary...but understandable, considering the imminent danger all around you.
ReplyDeleteThe feces-covered house dream is simply disturbing. Weirdo.
I asked an Army phychiatrist about it when I was demobilizing. He said it meant that I didn't want to go home. This must be at some level that I can't reach, or he's f*king wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat's when the "What? And leave all this?" punch line would be really funny...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I cleaned the house before you came home.
ReplyDeleteHow about the time a naked JO found his way into my cot and cuddled up in my sleeping bag dead asleep. He's lucky the cot with the pink pillow was unoccupied. Sleepwalking would have been the least of his problems...
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