Some GIs Forced To Steal Water In Iraq
CBS: Stories of short supplies for American forces in Iraq, such as inadequate body armor or unshielded Hummers, have been around since the war began. CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston has discovered that some soldiers were forced to ration water, perhaps as little as 2–3 liters per day, because there was never enough.
It is less than the one gallon minimum a day that an Army manual says is necessary just to survive in a desert environment. In fact, an Army training document on preventing heat casualties states that water losses in the desert can reach 15 liters (about four gallons) a day per soldier.
Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Robey told KHOU correspondent Jeremy Rogalski that soldiers would throw up or pass out from dehydration. Chronic dehydration can lead to such problems as kidney stones, urinary infection, rectal afflictions and skin problems, and can have long-term health problems, including kidney injury.
Robey said in 2003 his company would run out of water on missions, forcing them to improvise, like drinking water from whatever taps they found. Unfortunately, the often-untreated Iraqi water can cause intestinal illnesses. Robey said 50 to 60 members of his company got dysentery.
Desperate, Robey said he and his commander were reduced to stealing water from supplies stored at Baghdad International Airport. They found plenty, in the hands of civilian contractors who Robey claims were supposed to be distributing it to soldiers. “You just had pallets upon pallets upon pallets of (bottled) water,” Robey said.
