In country part 1
"I just realized I am nervous." SGT Kou said to me while our chalk waited for a helo pickup at Baghdad International. We had been waiting well over 15 minutes; I was smoking, and staring at the flight line, while watching the nighttime operations lost in my own thoughts.
"Is it because you have to take a crap?" I ask. "Cause that getting naked thing that you do would make me nervous."
"No, it’s not that. It’s just that we are here and this shit is real."
"Yeah, kinda puts it all into perspective," I tell him. "Want a smoke?" As I give him a cigarette and light it, I realize that that was a deep conversation for people like him and me. No other words were needed or necessary.
Welcome to Baghdad, my home for the next year or so.
Well here, it is ladies and gents, the journal that I promised that I would start when I got here. I know, not much to start with but hey, it is a start.