I've Got Mine!

		Hello everyone and welcome to my site. I am your host, John. I was sitting around thinking the other day that it's been quite some time since I last made a web page and decided to make another. Coincidentally I was also wanting to make a web page on my former National Guard units "unofficial" motto and finally decided to sit down and do it. The unofficial official motto of the Maryland Army National Guard's 200^th Military Police Co. came about suddenly and by mistake during the units tour in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm during an early morning muster and instantly became a favorite saying among the members of the unit. The 1^st Sergeant and the Captain came to muster in full Desert camouflage fatigues, when asked by one of the enlisted members of the unit about where everyone else's uniforms were the 1^st Sergeant promptly spoke up saying (to the effect) "well I don't know where yours is but I Got Mine". That did it, the enlisted personnel found that the saying was quite appropriate for the time and decided to carry it on despite what the Senior NCO's and Officer's had to say. From then on out no matter what it was that we did, "I Got Mine" was the word of the day. We, the members of the unit, can thank our 1^st Sergeant for his "slip of the tongue" when he unknowingly coined the phrase for his subordinates to take and run with. To this day it still brings about a sense of amusement when I think about it. More to come in the near future.

			The MDANG's 200^th MP Co. made military history during the United States first confrontation with Saddam Hussein's ruthless "Republican Guard". It was the first and only National Guard unit in the history of the US Military to have set up and operate an American POW site in a combat area of operation. And not only did we have one confinement facility, we had two. One in northern Saudi Arabia near Hafer Al Batin and one near Dhahran at Half-Moon Bay. I thought that you might find this to be of interest because it is something that not too many people are aware of. The local residents of the Eastern Shore of Maryland can be proud of the fact that one of their local Militia made history. Not too bad for the "Out House" side of Maryland for those who remember.

		While in the land of "Sun and Fun" we all got to see a lot of interesting things. There was sand of course and there was .......Sand!! Oh did I mention the sand? Along with the sand there were other things that were surrounded by sand. There were Mosque's for example and on those Mosque's were very loud horns that were notorious for waking you up from a deep somber at just the right moment when you were dreaming of the first time that you. . . (to each his own). Nevertheless they were incessant, you'd hear some guy begin bellowing every morning just before sunrise and right after you got to bed. I think that all who served there should be given some sort of retribution for the psychological trauma suffered at the horns of the Mosque's. They were atrocious! My buddy Richard (Sgt.) Murray will attest to that, he's the one who got me thinking about putting this page together. Left to Right Rear: Sgt. Leroy Johnson, Sgt. Richard Murray. Left to Right Front Pfc. Charles "Tuna" Somers, Spc. John Wright (Um-Al Sahik, Saudi Arabia) Other things that were surrounded by sand were camels, the one "hump" style not the two humpers that you see in Egypt. There were "sand dunes" too, these are great big piles of sand that are surrounded by sand but nothing like the things that you see at the beach. These piles appeared to be upwards of 150ft at times. There's nothing quite like watching a half-million metric tons of sand move around in the middle of the night, which leads me to something else. Landscape! The landscape was never the same as far as configuration is concerned, after a good wind storm nothing was the same. If you went to the latrine in the middle of a wind storm and didn't have a rope tied to your hooch, and stayed gone too long, you might not be able to find your way back because everything would be different. No kidding! I'll return with more in the near future so bookmark this site and return as often as you'd like. I need the company!! If you can think of or remember anything else that was surrounded by sand please drop me an e-mail at wright@ccisp.net and let me know.
		My wife Lynn, Me and My Dad (John Sr.) 0400hrs. May 22, 1991 at Ft. Meade, MD