MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN by John W. Milor
It was in the summer of 1990, during the Panamanian conflict. I was an M-60 Machine Gunner in the Army at the time, assigned to the 7th Infantry Division. My weary eyes gazed out into the midnight mists of a dark jungle. Breaking the silence was an irritating buzz in my ear; I swiped at the mosquito and missed it. The buzz reminded me of the unbearable itching on my arms, so I bathed them in another scratch-fest. The itching quickly turned into stinging, as the blood oozing from the innumerable insect bites on my arms mingled with my sweat. The stinging soon grew intolerable, so I tried to think of something to do that would take my mind off of it. Reaching over to my pack, I pulled out an MRE (Meal-Ready-to-Eat). From the MRE, I retrieved two packets of powdered coffee, tore them open, then proceeded to dump the powder into my mouth. (This was a guard-duty technique I used quite frequently. I ate powdered coffee packets like most people use over-the-counter drugs to stay a...