Combat Zone

With all of the construction going on here recently, various contractors and I have been in and out of the crawl space under the house.

I can understand where the term crawl space would have originated, but I think it misses the mark.

Combat zone is a more appropriate name for the space that gives nightmares to those who suffer from claustrophobia.

Moving around requires shifting on elbows and knees like a sniper in a battlefield. While raising your head won't get you shot at, it is likely to result in scalp injuries.

Insulation sifts loose and falls in your face, dust swirls and fills your nostrils.

Then there's the unseen creepy crawly things that inhabit the combat zone. I always expect to find things with eight legs or more falling from within my pant legs when I resurface in the sunlit world.