A Typical Day

Yesterday was a supposed to be a normal day. I’d wake up, go turn in the article that I finally finished after much procrastination, spend 30 minutes loading my truck and then go to a briefing and be done. It was not to be that way. At noon I went to the company HQ trying to find a ride to the chow hall, and found out the mission had changed. I had to find a way to get two full trucks completely loaded with cargo by the end of the day. The amount of material was so incredible that I spent most of the next two hours trying to find the person responsible to confirm that he really wanted us to carry that much. Then we spent the next three hours loading it on the trucks and making all the necessary preparations. It was more stressful than it sounds, and I expected it to go much worse than it did.

Early this morning my most of the company and I got up and went to the motorpool. It was even a little chilly as I walked to my truck just after dawn. Everyone made sure that the cooler were well stocked with ice and Gatorade, because we knew it would not stay so cool. After a few final preparations, we were on our way. We had a large group today, and so the movement was somewhat cumbersome, but we made it work. The civilians were all out early, walking around, talking and starting their day. All of the neighborhood kids would run out to wave at us when they heard the first truck pass. I had a bag of candy I didn’t want that I had been saving for the end of Ramadan to give away, so I threw it out the window whenever we passed a small group. The market at the traffic circle was typically busy, with fresh produce in some shops, and fresh meat on hooks on the porch of others. A few kids and adults waved as we passed, but many kept going as if we weren’t there. A few minutes later we turned on to the main highway picked up a little speed. There were plenty of cars on the road today, but they all pulled to the side to allow us to pass. Some of the cars were new Japanese and European models. Others are old and patched together. Still others were painted orange on the ends and white in the middle. I’ve heard this is a taxi pattern. Along the side of the road were some cows and at another point a donkey pulling a cart. At last we pulled into our first destination, a Joint Coalition outpost, or JCOP.

As soon as we got there I got out, went inside, and found an officer talking to a civilian. As I watched, they cancelled the mission that I had worked so hard yesterday to prepare for. With my own mission cancelled, I hitched a ride in another truck to go along for my favorite mission, that I would not have been able to take part in otherwise. For weeks I had been saving the candy for the kids at this location, and now Ramadan was over and I had already given it away, not knowing I would be able to come.

Our destination was a small cul-de sac near overlooking a river. It seemed that every kid in the area had come out to greet us, and a few adults as well. It took some time to unload our precious cargo, so I had some time to interact with the kids while we were waiting. I know enough Arabic and the know enough English so that we can sort of understand each other. Most of the kids just wanted to smile, shake hands and take pictures anyways. Today we exchanged names, but sadly I cannot remember theirs. I took several pictures, but every time they just asked for more, even though they could not see them. They will not be posted here. Many kids asked for things like water pencils, or my glasses and watch. Unfortunately, I had nothing that I wished to part with at the time. A few of them asked for a football, (soccer) even though it should have been obvious I had none in my pockets. They all spoke very good Arabic and some English for their age. They all remember us, and I remember many of them. A few weeks ago I had an extra pen, so I took it out of the pocket on my shoulder and gave it to the youngest child there at the time. Today I showed three of the kids the empty pen pockets on my sleeve to prove that I had no pens on me, and one of them pointed to my pocket, where he remembered I keep them. The only one I had today was my favorite. The most memorable part of the day was when a young boy, between three and five years old, came to me and held out his hand with a piece of hard candy in it. I don’t know how well these people live, but I’m pretty sure that such candy is worth much more to a child here than it is to me. I was touched, and accepted the candy and said Shukran (thank you) with my right hand over my heart, which is a gesture of sincerity in their culture. I thought for a second about what I had on me, and fortunately I had some gum in one of my pouches and gave it to the child as a gift in return. By this time we were done unloading the cargo, but a news media team was still there talking to the shop owner so we stayed just a bit longer before moving to our next destination.

The short trip was uneventful, and our next destination was a secure spot so we could rest and relax for a while. A few minutes after we got there, the news media team asked to interview me, so I stood in front of a truck similar to mine and they video taped a five minute interview. After spending some time in the shade talking to the residents and the crews of some other vehicles, we mounted up and drove uneventfully back to our base.

On the way to the chow hall, I got the opportunity to reinforce to the rest of the company that my section is the best. They were skeptical, but they are just misinformed. The chow was great after a long day, if only they weren’t out of near beers. They go so well with BBQ’d beef. There was plenty of Baskin Robbins to go around, and I enjoyed a good portion of it.