Footnotes From the Front

An off-beat briefing on the Persian Gulf crisis

Hey, er, Friend, What's Happening? Warnings to American troops to be culturally sensitive may have gone a little too far. Newly arrived soldiers have been advised to avoid the phrase "Hey, dude" because "dude" sounds like the Arabic word for worm.

Sand Trap. Troops have no opportunity for randy R. and R. in Saudi cities, but they have found another use for their prophylactics. Soldiers are placing condoms over the muzzles of their machine guns to protect them from airborne sand. In World War II, ground troops sometimes used "French letters" to keep their guns from jamming in the European damp.

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