Combat Showers...serious business

Combat showers have NOT been my best friend while here in Kuwait and Iraq. The purpose of a combat shower (also know as a Navy shower or a C-shower) is to preserve water since each person is allotted about 15 gallons per day to use. This is the combat shower process...

1. Strip all clothes off leaving nothing on but flip flops or shower shoes.
2. Step inside shower and pull closed the curtain which is probably just hanging on by two or three shower rings.
3. Turn on water which, of course, comes out cold then warms up to a decent temperature.
4. Leave water on only long enough to get entire body wet.
5. Turn off water and shampoo hair.
6. Turn water on and rinse out shampoo
7. Turn water off and lather up body with soap.
8. Turn water on and rinse off water.
9. Step out of shower and exchange awkward glances with other people who are showering who are also standing there buck naked.
10. Dry off and get dressed.

Now...after spending all day walking around the base in the wind and sand...a girl tends to get a little dusty and looks forward to getting a shower and feeling like herself again. This is why the combat showers are NOT my best friend. Here is a fun fact about me...I like to push the envelope from time to time. You know... break the rules, be a rebel, a renegade. Like the time I took 25 items through the express line at Publix, or the time I tapped in to someone else's wireless Internet. So....when Thanksgiving morning came, I took this as an opportunity to treat myself. I felt like it was a holiday present to me. I decided to get up early (430am) because I knew the showers would be empty( I had been scoping out the shower schedules for days.) This was the day I would take a REGULAR shower...no interruptions.

This was the progression of the NEW AND IMPROVED COMBAT SHOWER~ DANA STYLE:

1. I stripped down to just my flip flops....while the water was heating up to an almost unbearable hot temperature. Hot enough that I could barely stand it. hat's how I like it.
2. I stepped in and began to wet my entire body..taking my time of course.
3. I shampooed my hair AND conditioned it...twice.
4. I lathered up my body with soap and scrubbed every inch....twice.
5. I then decided it was too nice to stop...so I decided to shave my legs. It was time...trust me.
6. I then almost slipped and fell due to a VERY loud alarm that began to go off in my shower trailer. It was the smoke alarm...BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!! Yeah...steam makes smoke alarms go off by the way.
7. I got out, dripping wet, naked, and began fanning the steam away from the alarm before the whole camp woke up and sent in the Fire Crew to catch me in the act...still naked.
8. Alarm stopped. I didn't shave my legs. Shower over.

Moral of the story...Combat showers are NOT my best friend.

Until next time.
Dusty Dana