Five Years
Fallujah, Iraq
22 April 2004
Five years ago today I got on a plane in Riverside, CA, bound for Iraq. Sometimes it doesn't seem like that much time has passed, but just as often I find myself feeling like that day was a lifetime ago. I suppose in some ways, it is; nearly everything in my life has changed in some substantial way since that day.
In my Iraqiversary post last year I mentioned that the Wisconsin Veterans Museum was in the process of putting together an Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom exhibit. I had been invited to participate in an interview process to establish an oral history of Wisconsin vets' wartime experiences, and they also asked if I might make a donation of photographs and other items. Over the course of the past year I have donated a well-worn uniform set, including boots that I wore during the deployment, an Iraqi battle helmet, some personal equipment (boot knife, other stuff), about 180 digital photographs, and a video of a fire mission (us shooting a howitzer after getting mortared). My interview is one of fourteen conducted over the course of the year, and I'm the lone Marine. The exhibit will open in April, and I can't wait to see what it looks like.