the seagull effect

The dining hall on Camp Ripper is fairly small, as far as dining halls on Al Asad airbase go. Being on a smaller camp within the base has advantages. The first meal I took was disconcerting to say the least. To enter the hall, you must first clear your weapon in a barrel outside the door. This is to ensure that no loaded weapons enter the building. While uncommon, Marines who go outside the wire often may occasionally have a round still loaded. This quick maneuver eliminates any potential risks. One inside, there are two lines that offer the same choices of food. Typically there is a one or two main dishes and several sides to choose from. You grab a tray, and point to the food you want. All of the staff are third-country nationals (TCNs) and rarely speak much English. Over the few months of our stay, we got to know the personalities of the main servers. 

That first meal however, everything was new. The uncomfortable stares from the servers were unnerving but not unexpected as one of the few women in our small camp. It was when I turned the corner to enter the main hall to find a seat that the true horror began. As I stepped out into the spacious room lined with cafeteria tables and chairs, every last man in the room stopped eating, and the overall noise noticeably dropped. Every last man turned and watched as my fellow female marine and I made our way to seats with others from our unit. Some fellows even switched their seats in order to be able to continue watching us as they ate. The awkwardness of it all was entirely missed by our male companions. 

Later that evening, back in our room, it was one of the first things we talked about. We wondered if every meal would be like that. Unfortunately, we were forced to endure a similar level of scrutiny the entire length of our stay. We began to call it the “seagull effect”, based on a scene from the movie Finding Nemo. The two fish are flopping on a dock under the bright sun, and a flock of seagulls all turn towards them, uttering in unison “Mine! Mine! Mine!” There would be no handy pelican to scoop us up and rescue us however. We took to finding a seat off in a corner, eating with our backs to the room in order to feel less scrutinized. I never became fully comfortable with it though.