Turfgrass Cultivation in Iraq
The photograph displayed above is genuine and shows Warrant Officer 1 Brook Turner tending a plot of grass with a pair of scissors at a military post north of Baghdad. The picture was taken by Staff Sgt. Mark Grimshaw in mid-July 2004.
A former staff sergeant with the United States Air Force wrote the following.
“The grass patch [above] is located at the recently declassified Air Force base in Qatar, known as Al Udeid. I lived three months of my life (fall of 2002) two tent rows from that grass. It was the only grass on the whole base, and though I don't know who planted it originally I do know that the soldiers who rotated through that tent each became caretakers of it. They watered it from their water bottles, trimmed the grass with scissors (as seen in the photo) and kept it shaded in the summer with a tarp awning over the front of the to protect it from the 135+ degree summer sun.”
An email with a photo of carefully-nurtured turf trimmed by a U.S. soldier in Iraq caught our attention recently. Little information was provided in the forwarded message, but an Internet search turned up several references to the image. One by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson quoted a newspaper article about the photo—dispelling any doubts about its authenticity.
There can be little doubt that a patch of suburban-style green would be a comfort in that arid and often-hostile place.
Here’s the email message, with the results of the investigation below.
“Sometimes the little things we take for granted — Priceless
Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq, stationed in a big sand box he asked his wife to send him dirt, fertilizer and some grass seeds so he can have the sweet aroma and feel the grass grow beneath his feet. If you notice, he is even cutting the grass with a pair of scissors. Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don’t stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Upon receiving this, please say a prayer for our soldiers that give (and give up) so unselfishly for us.
You don’t have to send this on, but who wouldn’t…?”
According to the Salem Statesman Journal :
[Turner] asked his wife to send him some grass seed because he missed the green he was accustomed to in Hawaii and before that in Oregon.
Kim Turner was happy to send her husband a little slice of home. She bought a packet of grass seed and a small hoe and mailed them with other goodies in a care box.
Brook prepared a spot behind the single-wide trailer he shares with a few other soldiers, lining the 3-foot-by-7-foot area with large rocks and adding some dirt.
As soon as the seed arrived, he planted it. He knew keeping the seed moist would be a challenge in the 125-degree heat.
His fellow soldiers teased him about his failed project, but he was determined to grow a patch of grass. He talked with some Iraqis civilians authorized to be on post, and arranged to buy some sod. He purchased seven 1-foot-by-3-foot patches.
Turner watered his lawn three times a day. He used a 5-gallon jug he filled in the bathroom, where the camp has running water.
Sources:
Lynn, Capi. “Longing for Green Gets Soldier on Internet.”
[Salem] Statesman Journal. Dec. 31, 2004, http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/grass.asp
