A lot of people remember the huge sandstorm that swept over western Iraq on 26 Apr 2005. There are scads of photos (and several videos) of it on the web, and many military personnel wrote about it.

Several 3/2 Marines remember a sand storm swallowing everything up and covering everything with fine, talcum-powder sand.  Most think it was sometime before Operation Matador (8 May). So, I’m assuming it was the 26 April storm, but am always willing to be corrected.

Joshua Cepeda, in Weapons Co. (Warpig), remembers when the wall of sand hit Camp Al-Qaim:

We quickly tried to cover the trucks as well as we could. But after awhile, it just got completely black. It was impossible to see in that crap. So all operations ended up stopping… We were able to see the sandstorm coming before it hit, so we had a heads-up.

Some guys went out with gas masks to try and stay out there as long at they could to cover the trucks. I remember them doing a pretty good job but not too long into the storm it got completely dark and not even the gas masks [could] keep the dust out.

If anyone can confirm the date of this big storm, or has photos of it over Al-Qaim or Camp Gannon, please let me know.

–Ajax