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SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN — For U.S. Marines based in the Afghan desert, one of the secrets of waging war in this harsh climate is a lesson most learned from their mothers.
Wash your hands.
The failure of the Soviets to follow that most basic rule of hygiene helps explain why they lost their war in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. military report.
The report says that of 620,000 Soviets who served in Afghanistan, an astounding 75.76 percent were hospitalized, most of them — 88.56 percent — not from war wounds, but from diseases often prevented by basic hygiene.
"No one ever washed their hands," U.S. Navy flight surgeon Cmdr. Steven, of Portland, Ore., said Monday. Military rules prohibit publication of the last names of most troops based at this desert airfield.
The Soviets threw their trash around, attracting rats that brought lice. Soldiers relieved themselves near where they slept and ate. Even cooks didn’t always wash their hands, and spread disease through the food they prepared.
Staying clean is a struggle, with no running water, and sand everywhere — a dust storm blew across the base Monday. Until Saturday, there were not even latrines.
And yet eight days after Marines arrived in Afghanistan, "we have had zero hygiene-related illnesses," the surgeon said.
All over the camp and even out on the forward lines, troops routinely strip to the waist in the warm sun and clean themselves as best they can, with bottled water, soap and a towel.
The report, published in 1995, is called "Medical Support in a Counter Guerrilla War: Lessons learned in the Soviet Afghan War." The war ended in 1991 with a humiliating retreat after a 10-year campaign.
The report said Soviet troops suffered from poor personal hygiene. That resulted in the spread of hepatitis, cholera, typhoid and other illnesses that could have been prevented.
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