Everything comes with experience. Every situation is different.

He was right. No matter how much they train us we they never could predict what will happen. It’s different every time. Today was my first day outside of the gate. I didn’t think it was going to be that bad. In fact, these guys made it worse than it seems. Maybe they were over reacting. Maybe I was under reacting. I definitely figured something out. I have to change my attitude when it comes to riding on the road. Like I’ve heard before, “We own the roads.” Sure I got that, and I figured that they’d get out of the way if they saw us coming. I didn’t expect us to drive the people off the road. In some ways it’s kind of cool but in others I think, how are we supposed to win the “Hearts and Minds” of these people if we control them. I guess I don’t realize how dangerous it is until something happens. But to me, everything seemed ok.

The landscape reminded me of Peoria, Arizona or West Phoenix before all of the development. There is a lot of farmland out here. Actually, I didn’t see any desert at all. It was kind of weird because it doesn’t look that bad in some areas. I think they’ve cleaned it up a little. Sure the roads aren’t the best but the landscape was kind of pretty after looking at it for a while. There are palm trees, reeds, big and small houses, farmland, sheep, cattle, and no camels to be seen. I could see how this area, Babylon, was once the Garden of Eden. It’s a lot greener here than it was in Kuwait. There was nothing in Kuwait but sand. When I have a chance I’ll take a photo of the landscape to post on the blog here. Maybe I could get a photo of the people too.