Back In Baghdad

I'm back in Baghdad. I have my own room. I have food at my fingertips. I have air and internet connection. I have a few days off before I leave for another site up North. The ride back into a city this size was shocking to the system at best. I haven't seen a tree or anything green for a month and a half and the most people I have been around in that time is maybe 200. I was surprised first by the temperature. I rolled my window down a few inches to throw a cigarette out the window while we were driving through Baghdad traffic and my hand felt like I put it in an oven on 100. The temperature in the desert is around 75 or 80 degrees with a cool breeze blowing. Baghdad however, is like a blast furnace. It probably isn't over 90 here but with the traffic and concrete and sun, it feels muggy and sticky.

The sheer amount of people was shocking as well. When you drive through Baghdad, you weave and honk and swerve driving fractions of an inch away from the next car. You never really know when a weapon will be raised or a mortar or car bomb will go off next to you so you nervous system goes on a kind of overload. I was aware of every little thing from the guy in the car next to me to the rooftops some 100 meters away. We made it back to base safe and sound. Once I got here, all the adrenaline drained away and I was tired.

There is a cook in each house. I met the cook for my house who knew I had spent the past month in the field so he asked what I wanted to eat the most. PIZZA!!!! PIZZA!!! He laughed and began to make pizza within the next few minutes. I could smell it cooking in the kitchen and I could barely stand it. By the time I got to sit down to eat it, I looked like someone that has spent a lot of time in the field!!! Everyone laughed and we had a good time. No one is laughing about the pizza anymore because now, that is what the cook makes for lunch and dinner and I've been here for four days!!! HA! Oh well, I'll be rolling out again in a few days so I'm not going to complain.

I'm headed for the North or Iraq for my next stop. I saw pictures of the camp yesterday and that too will be a shock I'm sure. I've been living in a 20 foot cargo box for 45 days and relying on convoys to get what I need. Where I'm going has nice, two story buildings with indoor plumbing and abundant supplies within a few miles. There are trade-offs to this luxery however. There is a lot more fighting there and there a daily mortars in the area. I am actually becoming accustomed to gunfire and loud booms. Here in Baghdad, there are a couple really good gunfights a day. I'll be talking with someone outside, a gunfight breaks out a block away, you both stop talking and listen until it ends and then just pick up the conversation where it left off. Weird. I'll keep my head down and hope for the best.

One more thing. I have been listening to Freedom Radio while I've been here. It's the radio station of the U.S. military. I hope I can record some of it for the people back home. The d.j.'s are upbeat and fun like in the states but unlike the states, the commercials are not for Bud Light. Instead they all talk about safety in the field and being careful when driving through town but they use American commercials to sell safety. Example: Two American soldiers talking "Man, that was the third firefight today!" next soldier: "Yeah, I just wish we had something to wear for better protection while the bullets are flying!" Duck voice: "FlakJak" First Soldier: "Yeah, if they just gave us something to protect ourselves!" Duck voice: "FlakJak!" announcers voice: "Ladies and Gentlemen, you have been given body armor for a reason, it will save your life. Don't get complacent and where it when ever you are out of the green. Duck voice: "FlakJak!!" I about fell off my chair laughing. That's the one thing that surprises me about this war and this place. Nobody has lost their sense of humor. Some things never change!!