Cordons

I can’t stand them. I guess I should like them because it means that we’ve found an IED. The reason I hate them is because we have to ensure the safety of everyone else. That means that we have to secure the area and make sure that Iraqi civilians and other coalition forces doesn’t enter the danger area. Well, we ran into one today. It wasn’t our cordon but we still had to wait. It’s worse than waiting for a train to cross an intersection.

We stood by for just over an hour. It sucks because we can’t do anything else but wait. I can’t read a book or listen to my Zen Micro. I can’t do anything else but make sure the area is secure. So we were succumbed to having conversations. I didn’t say much because I was busy watching other Hadjis. I was very surprised when I saw a couple of the ladies making tortillas. I couldn’t believe it. I haven’t seen anyone make tortillas since I was a little boy when my Mom used to make them.

We expected a big explosion when the IED was detonated. I barely heard it. Maybe that’s because we were so far from it when it was detonated. There also was a big plume of smoke too but again, it didn’t look too impressive from where we were. I didn’t even leave a crater like some IEDs do.