Assignment: Mogadishu.

War Against Bugs Is No Small Mission

January 21, 1993|By Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Navy Lt. Rafael Del Vecchio is a man at war-with the bugs.

He's the American military's number one exterminator in Somalia, the dude responsible for protecting the 25,400 U.S. troops here from the spiders, snakes, scorpions, ticks and other assorted wildlife that scare the hell out of most of us.

And in Africa, as Del Vecchio says, the bugs are bigger.

"It's the climate. The heat and moisture makes them grow larger." said Del Vecchio, a native of Mexico City who now lives in San Diego.

There are inchlong "Army ants" as well as poisonous centipedes, scorpions, and black widow spiders, and plump, footlong rats that seem to only come out at night. Somalia has fever-carrying sandflies, cats, dogs, hyenas, and jackals that are rabid, ticks that spread typhus, six-foot lizards that are surprisingly harmless, and plenty of venomous cobras, vipers and other snakes.

The most deadly snakes in Somalia are black and brown mambas: Their nickname is "the two-step." "It's called the two-step because if it bites you, you die in short order if you don't get treatment," said Del Vecchio, who has a doctorate in bugs (he's an entomologist) and knows a thing or two about reptiles and other critters.

Somalia's bugs are serious business to the military, especially mosquitoes that spread malaria and dengue fever. Both diseases lay you flat out with the sweats and shakes, so the military has issued bug spray, anti-malaria pills and a mosquito nets to each soldier.

Del Vecchio also has 18 exterminators spraying pesticides where ever the troops are bunking. About a dozen soldiers have malaria and another half-dozen dengue fever-also known as break-bone fever because of the awful way it makes joints hurt.

The military has issued a handbook about dangerous bugs to each soldier that has a few simple rules. Shake out your boots before putting them on. Look at the ground before jumping out of the sack in the morning. And don't sleep without a mosquito net over your cot-or let the net hang to the ground so critters can climb up it and bite you.

A soldier recently was nipped on the ear by a spitting cobra when he fell asleep without his mosquito net. Another soldier hopped out of his bunk and got nailed by a scorpion first thing in the morning. Several soldiers have also found scorpions inside their mosquito nets. Scary spider citings are also common.

"The spider was this big. It had long legs and was hairy and black," said U.S. Army Capt. Karen Conley, describing a four-inch arachnid that bunked inside her mosquito net. "I panicked. I tore everything up when I saw it."

U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Johnston, commander of the 34,000 U.S. and miltinational troops here, was hounded by a footlong rat sharing his quarters. Johnston ordered Del Vecchio to get rid of it, pronto: A trap and a little bait-peanut butter from a U.S. Army-issued ready-to-eat meal-did the job.

Del Vecchio said that soldiers bring him several beetles, spiders, and snakes every day-a practice he said he doesn't appreciate because "I'm not starting a zoo." He also said that soldiers frequently break the military's "no pet" rule, especially by bottling spiders, snakes and lizards.

"We say no pets because you never know what diseases they're carrying," Del Vecchio explained.

So far, Del Vecchio say that bug and reptile bites are at a minimum and there have been no deadly encounters.

And in a bizarre twist, Del Vecchio said the most common pests usually found in any large military operation-cockroaches-have not been spotted.

"It's unexplainable. It's one of those mysteries of life," said Del Vecchio, as he put on his combat helmet and headed into town. "I got to bug out now."