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A second attempt at this- my computer dumped the first one.

So… Another week has passed and I still have ten fingers and as many toes. It has been a busy week, not too many more missions than usual, but the times have been weird. One of my personal keys to not being tired all the time is having a consistent sleep pattern- I haven’t had one of those since we left Kuwait. I did spend a couple of days at BIAP, Baghdad International Airport; it is nice to see how the other half lives. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t trade our current situation for the other, but they do have some amenities that I wouldn’t mind having closer. We managed not to get anyone too blown up this week, so that is a good thing. I got around to answering a few emails, however the letters aren’t coming as well as I would hope. New pictures of the niece arrived in the inbox this week, so thanks to my sister for those. An email from one of my Ulster Project teens arrived, it was awesome to hear from her and know that she is doing well, and there is something about facing death on a semi-regular basis that makes a person like to get messages from long lost friends. TRS got its first link on another website, thank you Ang- and if I could figure out how to change my links I would return the favor. Before I continue I will show you a couple of pictures that show just how much they love us here.

This one is pretty clear.

This one isn’t quite as clear; it reads “to scared US Army have a nice bomb.” Gee, thanks buddy- I can’t start to tell you how much that means to me. Some of the people around here are so thoughtful, seriously- who doesn’t want to have a nice bomb? I know that I do, if I have to have one let’s at least make it a nice one. I may have to make my own stencil that says, “To scared insurgents have a nice 7.62mm round to the forehead.” I hate to sound hateful, but piss off. The soldiers here in Iraq aren’t trying to make it a colony of the United States; we are trying to give the people a fresh start without a dictator in charge. Oh well- you can’t please everyone. One more thing before I let this frustration die, if the insurgents aren’t scared why don’t they put on uniforms and show up for a real fight?

Period… done end of anger.

I am going to put this cartoon in here because I think it is funny and pokes fun not at the majority of Islam but at the silly fringe morons that interpret a peaceful religion so incredibly incorrectly.

Who doesn’t love Garfield?

I am sure that most of you saw that they piped the Super Bowl in here live on television, of course what they don’t tell you is that they don’t let us see the good commercials. We get military propaganda at every turn here even during the big game. Of course since the Bears weren’t playing, I watched just enough of the game to confirm that the good commercials were not on and then went to bed. I was tired after my 6 hour mission and a non-Bears game, just didn’t sound that exciting.

Today the kidnappers of Jill Carroll gave another deadline for her murder (I almost called it an execution, but these people are murderers, point blank). I remember the day she was kidnapped and how the call came over the radio saying that a US journalist had been captured and was in X type of car moving through Baghdad. Now if you haven’t been here you may not realize that there are only about five types of cars on the road here and whenever you are looking for a specific type of car, there about a 100 of that car on the road. So there we were looking with all that we had for this poor journalist and I remember how totally helpless we felt. It is also so frustrating hearing them say that she is in this and we don’t hear or see anything that might tip us off. Once again put a uniform on and come fight- I live with about a hundred guys who would be down for whooping some ass.

Moving on…

The kids here are so cute, I’m a sucker anyways, but it is very rewarding knowing that these kids won’t have to live in the fear that their parents did. I have some great cute kid shots- that you will definitely want to see when I get home; I may put one in at the end of the post. The children of this country have a chance to reshape the Arab world- that is a big responsibility and I wonder if they can understand the chance that they have. I do hope that we realize the responsibility that we have to them; we have to help them along the way. The last thing we need to do is tell them what to think but we need to show them different schools of thought so that they can make informed and educated decisions. Schools need to be a focus of our work here, of course that is so far above our level I wish that I could make a difference but all I can do is try to help them out with what my limited power and influence allows. This of course amounts to soccer games, food, water, and chewing gum most of the time. I guess at times you just have to accept your limitations and do the best with what you have.

I’ll leave you with one final thought, a picture of the future, and then I will have to call it a night.

Red 4 and I were talking via the instant messenger yesterday and he told me that Joe Crosser passed away. I don’t mention names around here too much and especially full names but this one deserves it.

Joe was one of the greatest brothers that Lambda Chi Alpha ever knew- I thank Joe for instilling his love of Lambda Chi in so many of us. He was a great representative for the Fraternity; he cared so much for the brotherhood. I think my favorite pictures of Joe have to be the two shots of him and I with his beard shaved half off, one pic showing the bearded Joe, the other the clean shaven. I was truly blessed to have known Joe for the time that I did, he touched all of our lives in such a special way. I remember a conversation he and I had concerning his employer not liking his wooden tie and how that surprised him. After Joe graduated most of our contact came by playing games together on the internet, I never thought that I would never see him again. Joe you will be missed my friend- the world has lost a great man.


















This is why we are here...

Until next time, as always…

Peace and Love- Roadshow 6