Closing the Game

Boy I hope nothing happens to us now. That would totally suck, to be here for a year and to get hit. That’s all I would need at this late point in the game. We weren’t supposed to go out on mission today. I had gone to the MWR to check my e-mail and get some lunch when I got the news. It was bad news and it was a note that was hanging on the window of my Humvee. They had found my truck at the parking lot of the chow hall and left the note on my truck. I opened it up and it read, “1300 mission at the TOC.” Great I thought! It’s just what I wanted to do, go out on mission.

It’s not that I’m worried. I’m not. I just didn’t feel like going out. I wasn’t in the mood for it, especially on late notice. Maybe it might have been alright if they gave us an advanced notice instead of an urgent notice. We all linked up at the TOC and got ready to head out. I put the .50 cal together, T-Rex did the checks on the Humvee, and The Colonel was making sure everything was getting completed. We got set and then rolled out the wire. Along with us were the new officers from the new unit that was going to replace us. Our mission was to give them a tour of the IZ. I’d rather scare the shit out of them and give them a real tour, Sadar City perhaps. Maybe fuck around with them a little and maybe play some pranks on them here and there. T-Rex could drive real fast and I could yell that we were getting shot at, taking fire. We have to initiate these guys somehow.

We stopped at some little street store operated by a couple of kids. The oldest looked 14 and his little brother appeared to be 10 years old. They were selling all kinds of souvenirs and goods. What surprised me was that they were also selling paperback books that looked like they were donated by organizations back home. They even had stickers on the front cover displaying which organization donated the books. Now they were for sell. They sold flags, knives, swords, coins, pins, and other items with Saddam’s face on it.

The weather has been warm during the days with high humidity. It’s been raining just a little bit every night almost. There still hasn’t been as significant an amount of rain as the other day. Last night there were some evening thunderstorms that were reminiscent of the monsoons back home in Arizona, without the haboobs.