Happy New Year?

30 December 2007

My friends and I had planned to go out to the ruins and have bonfire and do some recreational training with our M4’s and an M249 for New Years, but plans have changed. I have been reassigned to another Company within the Battalion. I will be working within my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in this new job, but I will leave the Company I’ve grown to love.

I’m better now, but I felt sad when I packed up and left yesterday. My Company often felt dysfunctional, but it was a dysfunctional family. I have never in my military career felt so sad to leave a unit. Part of it was the people, and part of it was that I loved the job and the unit we worked with. Despite being in Iraq, I felt like I was leaving a home. I am truly proud to have been a part of this unit for the last year, because this company was one that I could be proud of. My chain of command cared about the soldiers and was easy to work with. Every one worked hard, we always got the mission done, and accomplished more with less than any other company in the Battalion.

Another sad part about the move is that I will be leaving a job out on the road and going to one in the office. I am not much of an office person anymore. I will be seeing the same sights every day, and have few new things to see. There will be little reason to learn Arabic because I won’t be interacting with the local much anymore. I will not be eating or drinking chai with the interpreters late at night. I will not be greeting the Iraqi mechanic in Arabic and learning a bit more when I see him every few days. I will not going to range anymore, or driving a pickup. I will not have the dogs or the cat anymore, because I left them behind at another base. I will not be shopping anymore, because I will be nowhere near the local markets. The only physical danger I will face is the possibility of infected paper cuts. It will be a good move for my career, and in time I will grow to accept the change, but I will still miss my old company. Perhaps one day I will change my MOS or unit to one that spends more time outside the office.

I spent most of today moving into my new living quarters. I now live in a 20x8 foot containerized housing unit (CHU). I share it with another person. It is smaller than the space I had to myself before, but it is enough. I got a bunk bed and put it up on block so I can store things above and below my bed. I also have a real desk which I am thankful for.

In the afternoon I went shopping and treated myself to a late Christmas present. I finally bought the Surefire flashlight that I had been wanting for the last nine months. The Surefire is an amazing flashlight about the size of a mini Maglight that puts out as much light as a full size four D cell Maglight. I also bought a little green LED light the size of my little finger that puts out a lot of light for its size. I was also finally able to make some of the nice gourmet hot cocoa that my wonderful wife sent me. It was helpful in combating the cold desert night.

My mailing address has also changed. I will soon send an email to my family with the new address. If you did not get the email, and wish to send me LETTERS and NOT packages (I have no need for them, and too little space as it is) contact me or my family for it.

Because my life is going to get much more monotonous, I do not expect to be writing as much as I have been recently. Check back occasionally, maybe I’ll get an infected paper cut, or something interesting will happen. I’ll write something while on vacation for sure.

P.S. For some unknown reason the software would not permit a more aesthetically pleasing layout for the pictures.

December 07

18 December 2007

Yesterday I found out that sometime towards the end of the middle of January I will be heading home for a break from my government sponsored vacation. I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family and eating good food.

After a few days at the main base, I’m back to the smaller base where I’ve been enjoying life for the past few weeks. I was able to pick up four important things while I was there, but I forgot one. I will see if I can get it next time. The last three days were a blur, but they went well. My job at this base has never been easier, and I have never felt so good about the way it’s running.

While I was at the bazaar at the main base a few days ago, I accidentally found and bought the perfect item for my house. It’s an electric kettle, and I’ve been very impressed with how quickly it can boil a liter of water. Now I can have tea or coffee anytime I want to take the chill out of the cold desert nights. My first cup was some Tazo that my sister had sent me. After dinner tonight I went shopping at the Dining Facility and got some instant oatmeal packets and more tea.

Some local shopping

One of the units that we support asked for our help with something a few days ago. It was something that only my battalion could do because of our heavy equipment. The mission came down at the last minute, and I had no idea about it until I saw the LHS drive up to my house and said to myself “that’s not good”. 15 minutes later I was on the road headed to do something. I didn’t even know yet. Turned out there were several different things that they wanted us to do, and our equipment was capable of all but one. On the way there I was looking out the window and saw a shop with table full of baklava and pastries outside. At the next stop I asked the 1LT if we could stop and go shopping on the way. It turned out that one of our next stops was right next to the shop, and he even had his interpreter do the negotiating for us. I gave him 250 dinar (worth about a $.25) and got a plate with about twelve pieces of different kinds of baklava. It was dripping with honey and the best I’ve ever had. I hope to somehow get the opportunity to get more.

The 24^th of December

Not much happened today. My soldier and I got bored so we made a bonfire and then when that died down we got in the pick up and went cruising, but there was no where to go. We decided to help SGT L by lacing his cigarettes so they would explode when smoked.

The 25^th of December

We decided to celebrate the 25^th with an even bigger bonfire than we had the day before. The dining facility had a nice dinner, but I thought the lasagna they served for lunch was more meaningful. I had orange juice, lasagna, and broccoli. It was rumored that some high ranking officers were supposed to come have dinner at our chow hall, so I ate quickly and left. After diner we had the bonfire, and then went to the internet and phone café. I tried to call my parents and sisters, but the phone hung up on me after a minute. Then I could not call back on that phone so I called another. I was told that there was a problem with my PIN and I needed to call customer service, but I could not get through to them. After half an hour I gave up and went back to my room.

12 December 2007

A Typical Day Outside

Yesterday I had a mission off post. It took us two hours to load everything that we were taking to the soldiers out in the city. Everyone was in their trucks and we were getting ready to roll out when one of the trucks broke. We called our mechanic and he diagnosed he problem, and we decided to take a part off another truck to fix it, and use and replace that truck with a different one. It was a little harder than we thought and turned into a two hour job. This time half the convoy made it out the gate before the new truck broke. The Commander decided to just roll without it. When we got to our first destination I started to go about my job in the fuel truck, but when I was done I went help my soldier in the LHS. First his trailer malfunctioned when he was trying to remove a flatrack from it. About 20 minutes later the truck malfunctioned when he tried to put a flatrack back on the trailer. So that ate up about an hour or our day. Then we went back to our staging base and prepared for the next trip. This time I drove the LHS. I don’t drive it very often, so I enjoyed the trip. Nothing went wrong, but since we had a lot to do, we didn’t get back until late. It was a long day, made longer because I’d been working until 0200 the night before. At least it’s not normally like that. The worst part of the day was when my uniform shirt caught on the door and ripped.

A Night With The Interpreters

After I’d brought all my gear into the house, my soldier and I went to the MWR. He spent more time on the computers than I did, so I went to the Falafil Shop to hang out with the interpreters and wait. That nights entrée was falafel served with tomatoes and Iraqi ketchup and wrapped in flatbread. It was very good and more than made up for the three meals I’d skipped on the mission.

The Dining Facility

Except for the lack of a bread bar, I think the dining facility here is the best one I’ve been to so far. I know the cooks well, so anytime I want to I can get a case of cereal, soda or chocolate milk to take home. Most of the food has a spice to it, which I like. About I week ago I realized how much my wife had brainwashed me when I found myself annoyed at the lack of quality vegetables in Army Dining Facilities. Today at lunch I was excited to find some steamed broccoli. It was meant as a topping for the baked potatoes, but I took it anyways. Steamed broccoli covered in olive oil and parmesan make a grudgingly acceptable substitute for my wife’s cooking.

New Housing

The rest of my Company is starting to move into 2 person rooms at their camp. It’s will be the first time in 8 months they haven’t lived in a tent. I now have my room in our house to myself. It’s so big I don’t know what to do with it all.

Two new things

Fun in the Wind

Yesterday’s mission required one of my soldiers to fill a 3,000 gallon water blivet that was on his trailer. The blivet is like an enormous bag that is filled with liquid and then strapped to a flatbed. Normally it’s not a problem, but yesterday was a stormy, windy and rainy day. As soon as he loosened the straps the wind caught the blivet and blew it off the trailer. He then came over to my truck to ask for help, so my driver and I went to try to hold the canvas sheet on the flatbed. I got up on the truck and then the wind caught the sheet again and just about threw me back off the truck. After a few minutes there were four us trying desperately to hold it on, but barely succeeding and we were making no progress in getting more of it on. We were all laughing at situation, despite being almost blown across the truck. I went inside the truck to get on the radio for help, while the 3 other soldiers sprawled out across the sheet to keep it there. About five minutes later an Infantry squad rolled up, and they lifted the blivet up for us while we stood on the sheet to keep in there. Then we stationed 3 people to sit on the blivet while we attempted to pump water into it. Out pump was not working for some reason, and it took half an hour for the Iraqi water people to get it working, but not before sending a 2in wide by 20ft tall geyser of water out, soaking two people. To make things more interesting, there was a lightning storm overheard and EOD was setting of controlled detonations nearby for most of the time we spent there.

More Culture lessons

One of the things that I love the most about this base is being able to spend time with the interpreters. I love to travel and see new places, and so I am glad that this deployment has allowed me to see a glimpse of what Iraq is like, in contrast to my first deployment, where I never left the airport. If I could, I would want to go on some foot patrols and see what the country is really like.

Tonight I stopped in to the shop where the interpreters cook their food. They had been cooking all three times I had been in that area, and the smell made me hungry every time. It smelled just like my mother making taco shells. There was one person there I knew, but the other one I had not yet met. The person I had already met was a teenager, and here their teenagers do the cooking for the older men. There are no Iraqi women on the base, nor any American women. The one I had not met invited me to sit at the table with him and we introduced ourselves and started to talk. He immediately offered me some of his food, and I gladly accepted. The younger man was cooking some eggs and tomatoes and when they were done the older man (who is a year older than me) shared them with me. We ate it with Samoon and it was very good. Every time we ran out of Samoon the younger man would get more or the older man would cut his piece in half for me. I enjoyed talking to him. He graduated from Baghdad University a few years ago, but could not find a job so he took one as an interpreter. We shared details about out homes and families and the weather in our countries.

One of the most important things in Arab culture is hospitality. They will offer or do almost anything to for a guest. I saw some of that tonight, but I have noticed it in all of my dealings with the Iraqi people at this base. When I go to deliver fuel, the Iraqi man that I give it to will sometimes invite me to come and sit. When I dropped off laundry to get done, the man there invited me in to sit with him. Again, I wish I knew more Arabic, but what I do know is at least enough to win some favor with those I come into contact with. I wish that I was in a position to learn it. It is very rare that I come into contact with someone that does not speak English well, so I rarely have a need to use the language.

Sheep In A Jeep

The Start of December

I was only able to one picture this time. More later.


Trouble with Kitty

"fffffffffffffffffdshj,a.jh..aadshjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjn" says the kitty. Around lunchtime it decided to be friendly and let me hold it for a while. So we lay on my bed together and it purred and went to sleep. Then I got hungry so I left it on my bed. 7 hours later, it’s still there. I looked closely to see if it’s still breathing and then set up my computer on the bed. It makes a half way decent desk. When I started to type, kitty awoke from hibernation. At first, he was cute and looked at me and purred and watched me type a letter to my wonderful wife. After being refreshed from his 7 hour nap on my bed, he decided it was time to play. But I guess he was also cold, because he walked over to my lap, and crawled inside the left sleeve of my fleece jacket. This was fine until he passed my elbow and then it became a little tight. I attempted to continue typing. The cat soon got bored. Maybe he didn’t want to back out of the sleeve, or maybe he just wanted to explore my forearm, but for whatever reason he decided it was a good idea to just follow my arm through the sleeve until he saw the light. I opened my cuff for him, and fortunately he only used his claws for the last few inches when he had to drag himself out.

I still had some patience left for the little kitten at this point, especially since I was documenting everything, but I was still more interested in typing. Unfortunately so was the kitten. First he decided to chase the mouse, which would have been fine except that my hand was on it at the time. I didn’t like that, so I sat back to see what he would do. So the cat responded by multitasking. It typed a message to someone while it looked at me and said "why would you type when you could be petting me?" And I said "get off my computer cat!" It didn’t move fast enough so I picked it up and put it on my lap hoping it would crawl happily back into my sleeve or something. It did not. It walked back on to my keyboard and said "1aa1". So I said "get off my computer cat, now you can go on the floor!" Cat did not like not being the center of attention, so it climbed up my leg, jumped to the bed and walked across my computer again, and this time it "accidentally" hit the power button. I was not amused. So I said, "Now you can spend the night OUTSIDE, kitty." So for the past twenty minutes I have been happily typing and listening to music. Five minutes ago I stepped outside and Cat said "MEOW". I gave it some milk.

Winter Wonderland, Iraqi Style

I thought it was unusual that It did not rain all the way through November. Of course, this is only my second (and hopefully last) winter in Iraq, so I’m not sure when is normal. All the way through November it was cool and sunny. Iraq is quite nice this time of year. Even the locals were friendly enough. December 1st I woke up and it was overcast. It stayed that way all day, only raining a few drops at a time.
It was a long day and at 9pm I was still working. I noticed some flashes in the distance and at first thought nothing of them. A few minutes later E and both realized it was lightning. Normally I would be excited, especially because there is very little lighting in WA. But last night as the lightning got closer, I was standing on top of 1,000 gallons of diesel and my job was not yet finished. We were trying to transfer fuel from one tanker to another, and were the tallest things in a large open area. I flipped the pump into high and asked it to please pump faster as the lightning got closer and E and I were still standing on top of our Tankers. I had wanted to transfer 1,500 gallons, but we settled for 500 and finished our work for the day as fast as we could.
The lighting kept getting closer and a short time later was right on top of us, lighting up the pitch black night like an enormous strobe light. There was a lot of wind with it, and I stayed up for a little bit to watch the show. It rained most of the night, and the wind kept up for a few hours after that. The clouds never went away, and I think it might rain again. It hasn’t rained enough to create mud yet, but there has been no dust at all today.

Check back later for pictures

Vacation, Nov 07

I mentioned a few days ago that I’ve been moved to another base temporarily. I love this place. I would be very happy if I stayed at this base until it was time to go home. It is a very small base, but that is part of the charm for me.

I live in small building with four rooms and an enclosed patio. I have my own room with a bed and mattress. I spend much of my time in the patio on the computer. We have a fridge, power, and even hot showers. Our friends run the dining facility, so we can get extra sodas and cereal and milk to keep at the house.

Outside, there is an open patio where our two puppies live, and there are two fire pits. We have a very small maintenance shop where fleabag, our adult dog lives, and the kitten lives underneath it. The puppies are very cute and playful. They are still young and about the size of a large cat. Fleabag is a young but fully grown mutt. He looks like he’s at least part German Shepherd. The kitten is a small and should not have been left alone. I don’t know what happened to his mother and littermates. He reminds me a lot of my cat Simba when was a kitten. A few days ago, SGT L decided to give the kitten a bath. The poor thing turned into a pathetic looking ball of claws and wet fur. When we were done, it escaped and ran off into the dirt, so we had to chase it down and rinse the dirt and dry it this time. It was not very happy about getting a bath and we weren’t sure that it would come back. It took some time, but later that night he came around again. It’s nice to sit back in a chair and hold a soft, clean purring kitten. Yesterday someone told us that one of his buddies had tried to steal our kitten, but it jumped out the window of the truck and came back to us.

Now about the nightlife here. Every base in the area has several shops that are run by local civilians. This one is no exception. One of the shops serves chai and has a TV and a few couches and chairs. It’s like the local equivalent of a Starbucks, but the tea is free and endless. They sell lots of other things like movies, cell phones and local drinks and chocolate. I’ve always liked tea, but I especially enjoy Iraqi chai. Iraqis drink chai like Americans drink coffee. At night I enjoy going to drink tea and talk to the Iraqis and Americans that hang our in the tea shop. I’ve had lots of chai, some enjoyable conversations and learned about Iraqi culture and some Arabic. I have noticed that most Iraqis I’ve come into contact with are very friendly and hospitable.

A few days ago I spent some time talking to a young Iraqi man in the tea shop and we have been trying to learn each others languages. He speaks much more English than I speak Arabic though. I met him tonight and found out he has his own shop and cooks Iraqi food. I was excited to learn that I because I love to try new things and have always enjoyed middle eastern food. So despite having eaten dinner and hour earlier, I had him cook me some Iraqi food. I made me some falafel fried in sunflower oil, with cucumbers, tomatoes and a special sauce served in a piece of flatbread. (samoon) It was delicious, and the best food I’ve had since the last time I saw my wife. He was even kind enough to give it me for free always with some extra samoon and hubs (two different kinds of flatbread) that I had requested two days earlier. I wanted to keep a good thing going, so I returned later with a gift of a few of the Reese’s that I had been sent in a care package. It was a cold night, so I stopped for some chai on the way home. It was a good night.

Thanksgiving 07

Every Dining Facility in the Army goes all-out for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even the small outposts get some kind of I’m at small base in Iraq. Instead of serving two meals today, they served a Thanksgiving dinner from 1200-1700. I had to wait about 15 minutes because they opened the DFAC a little late. When I walked in, I saw how much work they had put into the meal. They had all the trimmings of your standard American turkey dinner, a giant 3 foot square cake and banners and decorations on all the walls. Every table had “Happy Thanksgiving” place mats, and a bottle of sparkling cider. It was a strange scene, because ¾ of the diners were Iraqi Army, and all of the cooks were Turkish or Fillipino. I doubt either of them recognize the American holiday.

Here, the days really have no meaning. November 22 simply means that I’m about 6 weeks away from taking leave. I had forgotten that it even was Thanksgiving until I was in line at the DFAC and they didn’t open at the usual time. When I got inside and sat down to eat, I wished that it had been another day. Everything there reminded me of home and my family. I didn’t want to be reminded of how much I miss them.

A Much Better Place to Live

Today I moved into my third tent in the week that I’ve been on this new camp. There’s been a lot of confusion about where my company is going to live, but I pray that it is all settled now. The tent that I’ve moved into is that nicest place I’ve lived in the total 18 months I’ve spent in this country. It’s not much, but it’s a mansion to me. I would estimate my new place to be about 6x10’, that’s a few feet in each direction larger than my last place. It’s so long that that I do not know what to do with all the space. I would have been quite content with 6x6. I put some extra mattresses between my bunk bed and the next one for soundproofing, and bought a small rug for the floor. Then I put some cardboard over my two plastic 3 drawer chests to make a desk for my computer and lamp. I have a stool for now, but when my folding chair gets here I will be able to watch Stargate quite comfortably. I put up a few pictures, but because there is no wood in my “room” (space in the large tent) I was unable to put up my frame. I have my foot locker in a convenient place to keep my stuff secure, and an ice chest if I ever take the time to fill it. Also on my desk is the stuffed rat that wards off the real ones. I haven’t seen any mice around my space since July, so the rat must be territorial. My room is the size of a large closet, but I think it’s quite home like. Now, if only they would fix the hot water heater.

I’ve discovered some new brands of ice cream in the dining facility. I can’t even tell what country they are from, but I would be them at home if they were sold in the states. This new brand has 3 different flavors of ice cream bar, and all of them are very good. One variety is vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, with a white chocolate shell with almond shavings. I think the brand is from Turkey or Eastern Europe. Yesterday I found a new color drumstick, and since I love drumsticks I had try it. I should have known that a green wrapper would mean the drumstick was made with pistachio ice cream. I do not like pistachios. If you do, come to the middle east and you can have pistachio ice cream in a drumstick.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to spend an evening with one of our Iraqi interpreters. I enjoyed talking to him and hearing about Iraq from an Iraqi. Our conversation gave me a better understanding of the suffering and hardship of the Iraqi people, something that I can’t describe here. His girlfriend was killed by a car bomb, and several family and friends killed in other violence. He can never go back home, because if he does, the militias will kill him. Anyone who cooperates with coalition forces here puts their life at risk. All of the interpreters accompany soldiers on missions and face the same dangers from IED’s and RPG’s that US soldiers face. Arabic is such a hard language to learn that coalition forces would have a hard time without interpreters. I hope that if this war ends in anything other than a peaceful Iraq that our interpreters would be granted residency or citizenship in the US. It would an appropriate thing that our country could do after they’ve risked their lives for our soldiers on a daily basis.

First Impressions of my new place to live

I am sure that bread must have been something that God taught the first humans long ago. How else could anyone 4,000 years ago have thought to grind up wheat, mix it with water and bake it? Except for the bag of delicious Iraqi bread that I bought on patrol in August, I have not had real bread since leaving home 7 months ago. At lunch today I went to eat lunch at the dining facility at my new home. I was standing in line for some baked ham when I happened to look to the end of the room and saw something I could not believe. Off to the side of the main line was a large bread counter, with over a dozen different types of fresh breads. Dessert, coffee cake, cheese, garlic, rolls, they were all there. I approached the counter slowly, in awe of what I was seeing and after being prompted by the server who must have thought I was nuts, I took two slices of garlic cheese loaf and walked away feeling like I’d just been given a thousand dollars. Then I found some butter, gave thanks and joyously ate my lunch.

The base I live in now is significantly smaller than the one that I left, but it does have several advantages. Because it is so small, I no longer have to take a bus for 20 minutes to do anything. The Chapel, store, gym, library, Bazaar, food court, work and the cleaners are all within a reasonable walking distance. As I described above, the dining facility is much better than the one I left. There are also several new flavors of ice cream for me a try. I think that living conditions will be better here than they have been for the last 6 months. Of course, if I have more than two feet on one side of my bunk, it’s an improvement. One of the most welcome improvements would be to have consistently hot showers. I have not had one of those in a while. This new base even has a small national forest. Rest assured that I will send pictures and post a trip report as soon as I get the chance.

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.