I always love meeting and talking with the troops over there. Hearing their stories can give you a different perspective of the world and your place in it. Here are a couple of journal entries from my first year.

October 25, 2003

I like meeting the guys and gals over here and hearing about their families and where they are from. To put a face, name and life to them is soooo cool. Some of them don’t want to be here and some believe in what they are here for. Karen, the Jamaican gal, said yesterday that she didn’t know why we are here. But to listen to Sgt. Maples’ stories of how this one man came to tears when he saw him, you can hear his faith in what he is doing.

1st Story: Maples told me they were searching cars and people one day. This one man started digging in a box or pouch and looking at him. Maples and his unit thought that the guy might have a bomb and was getting scared. So the backed everyone away and cleared the area. When they pulled the guy out of his car, they looked in the box. There was nothing in the box except a picture. The mans son had been executed 3 weeks before the US came here, because he would not join the military. The guy was looking for this picture of his son to show Maples. His son looked just like Maples, only Maples had lighter skin color. Sgt. Maples said that at first he hated these people. But after that, he felt sorrow and compassion for them. That one encounter changed the way he felt and saw these people. Maples is in the reserves, but is thinking about going active.

2nd Story: They were out on patrol. Men were surrounding them right and left. After a while, they just took their weapons and let them go. One time they had to try to cram 12 POW’s in the back of the Humvee. He said that they got all but 4.

Sgt. Maples thanked me for being here. He said that for a long time all they had to eat were MRE’s. It is very nice to have real food and produce and ice. He said that he and a lot of the other guys are amazed by us. They have guns to protect them selves, we are running around unarmed. He told me to be careful, that he wanted to see me again, driving my truck.

I get asked by soldiers all the time about the money we make. I tell them, but I also tell them that money is not the only reason I am here. As a matter of fact, it is at the bottom of my list of reasons. To get a simple thank you for doing my job, that is worth more than the pay. To know that a unit has been without ice for 2 days and does not have room to put the ice we brought them, and to find a way to make sure that they got the ice and see the thanks in their faces, that has no price. I love doing this job. I love knowing that I am making a difference in their lives. I can imagine that one day this could be my son.

3rd Story: Maples told me about how they built a school for the children. The classes have about 60 to 70 kids per class room. He said several of them were down at the school when it opened. The children hugged and thanked them for building the school. Even the female teachers gave them big hugs of thanks. ‘In this country, we are forbidden to touch the women’, he said. But they hugged anyway. Maples said that the look of excitement on the children’s faces to get to go to school, made him feel good about what he is doing here. “We have lost a lot of good men and women in all this, but they lost more, even before we got here. Now we are trying to give back to them, what they should have had all along.â€?

November 16, 2003

We had to run dirt Tampa. That was a trip. We had about 50 to 60 miles of dirt road. One of our guys had a head on collision with a TCN. Brian was on our side of the road. The TCN hit him. I have no idea what the TCN was on our side of the road. Brian was very lucky. Just a little faster or a bit more to the left and he would be dead. The military took him to Tallil to be checked out. As far as we know right now nothing is broke, just some bad bruises. Brian was just 2 trucks behind me. Mike and I had just talked about the TCN’s trying to pass each other and with all the dust, we really needed to watch out. There were times that I couldn’t see Mike in front of me.

We hung out with some of the soldiers from the Army last night. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. We all had a great time. They cooked dinner for us and are going to cookout today for us. We are going to play volleyball, cookout and do lots of laughing again today. I am going to be sorry to see these guys go. They are closing this camp. They should all be moved out in December. I am going to miss this place. I like coming here.

The guys here say that they were part of Jessica Linch’s convoy. There were lots of feelings there. Guilt for not being with the convoy at the time of the attack and not being there to help, but also they felt relieved that they were not there because they could have been killed. I feel for them. I am sure this runs through every soldiers mind when something like that happens. I hope I never have to experience it.

November 18, 2003

Sunday afternoon we played volleyball with the Army guys. We really had a lot of fun. My knees are very bruised and hurt. Guess that is what I get for playing so hard! They cooked us some really big T-Bone steaks. Dinner was great but the company was better!

We met some guys that handle IED’s found in the road. They are so cool and so nuts. They told me that if an IED was found on our way out tomorrow that they would come get me and let me watch them set it off. I guess it is crazy to hope that they find one, but I do. I would love to watch them do that. I had a great time with these guys.

Course they owe me anyway. After chasing me around the camp with that robot! Some of them were laughing so hard that they had tears in their eyes. I am soooo glad that I can be their entertainment for the afternoon. No, I am not mad. Later that evening, they were telling some of the others about it and I was laughing as hard about it as they were. It is good to have a good hard laugh!