I had never really thought about what you guys had to eat or drink. Interesting to hear. At times, I had c rations or mci, even here in the states, but not water I had to doctor or rancid camel meat. Food with insects cooked into it a few times.
Bernie, There were times I was embedded, or before that what was called an official member of the DOD pool -- that was true during Desert Storm and during the Iraq invasion of 2003. In those cases, we'd eat MREs and drink the same water as the soldiers or Marines we were traveling with, and carry a military ID that gave us a status of 04 - Major - for traveling on helicopters and whatever.
But most of the time, in places like Sarajevo or Rwanda or Haiti or Somalia or Afghanistan, we were on our own, and just had to scrounge for food -- usually with the help of a paid local fixer. Often we were in places when there was no US military, which of course was much more dangerous than being embedded with a combat unit. Most often, the food wasn't bad. There was usually chicken or goat meat, decent pita bread and hummus, goat cheese, stuff like that.
But Mogadishu was a challenge. There was no clean water and very little food besides the camels they were slaughtering in desperation. Of course, no electricity or plumbing. It was unbelievably filthy and on the equator so scorchingly hot. Thousands were dying in the famine, and street battles among competing warlord militias were constant before the US military arrived, and the dead from their skirmishing were all around. Before we were able to hire our little posse we were constantly being robbed at gunpoint. Of course, we never carried anything, I think all I lost was some cheap sunglasses. But these were psycho teenagers high on khat, the stimulant they constantly chewed, so it was uncomfortable to be frisked with a knock-off AK-47 in your face.
What little bottled water we could manage to carry was gone in a few days. I was there nearly three months - a solid six weeks before ANY US military arrived. We were pretty much screwed on water, which is why we all got sick, me the worst. We managed to keep a supply of the pasta and camel meat by renting a villa and hiring a crew of gunmen associated with the local warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed (the same guy who eventually orchestrated the Black Hawk Down attacks.) I remember we were paying $17,000 a month under this deal, which sounds like a lot for Somalia, but there were seven writers and photographers living together, so it only came to around $80 a day each.
Ha. Sorry to ramble on. But your response prompted some memories. The below photo might interest you. These guys tried to rob us, but when we basically told them to eff off, they decided they wanted to pose with me. So my buddy took this photo. This was about two months before the Black Hawk Down battle. I'd guess these guys were part of that. I wonder if any are still alive - maybe in Minnesota!
