THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220452
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CAP-HAITIEN, HAITI LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
They came, they saw and they overheated.
Asked how operations are going, the standard answer by U.S. Marines who landed here is: ``Man, it's hot.''
Garbed in heavy uniforms and carrying 50 pounds of gear, the Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., have battled dehydration and the searing Caribbean sun from the moment they landed.
A number of troops who came from the air-conditioned Wasp, a Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship, were lying on cots in a terminal of the dilapidated Cap-Haitien Airport hours after their arrival, IVs dripping fluid into their arms.
As the sun baked down on his shoulders Wednesday, Lance Cpl. Beverly Minnis of Seattle pushed a shovel into the soil of a freshly dug trench along the airport road.
``We've dug four trenches,'' said Minnis, sweat dripping down his face. ``Eight more and we'll get it right.''
All the way down the road, pairs of soldiers crouched behind sandbags in trenches that will be their homes for the next few days, sunlight glinting off their M-16s pointed out at an empty field, a couple cows and a few curious peasants.
The Marines, like all the thousands of troops who have descended on Haiti, are hardly wearing the ideal outfit for temperatures in the mid-90s and unrelenting sunshine and high humidity.
Over a long-sleeved, heavy cotton camouflage shirt and pants go a 25-pound flak jacket and helmet. Dangling from the belt is a heavy cartridge bag with M-16 ammunition, a gas mask, a butt pack with rifle cleaning gear and MREs, two quart-sized canteens and a bayonet. Black boots complete the ensemble.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB