Guardin' Hajjie

Local Nationals, otherwise known as LN's. In the civilian verbatum, you would know them as the locals who inhabit whatever country you happened to be in. To us in the Army, (and I'm sure in the Marines, Air Force, and Navy, too) we have our own universal word; Hajjie

Hajjie - A muslim person on Hajj, the pilgrimage that they take one a year during Ramadan to complete the 5 Pillars of Faith

Hajjie (Army) - Someone who happens to be a Middle Easterner. Not an enderment. Think 'Charlie' from Vietnam...

Since the Army (and those other branches) never have enough people to do the things that need to get done, we hire 'Local Nationals' to take care of it. Dumping trash. Cleaning showers. Emptying the Porterjohns. Unfortunately, some poor sap needs to 'guard' these LN's while they make their merry way through the base, so that they don't do anything stupid.

Guardin' hajjie, the same guy we look out for on patrols, the same guy with his finger on the trigger or his thumb on the clacker. The guy we hunt for, search for, bust down his door for. Never trust 'em. Ever.

Because the moment you do... is the moment they betray you. Or the day you kick down his door and you recognize the guy who cleans your chow hall. Or you find out he's selling out information about you and your movements, and he's responsible for trying to kill you.

Guardin' hajjie...