Wow, what a week this has been. I’ll be able to tell you about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ll start with the bad and the ugly. Last night (while I was thinking about drafting an update at dinner) I broke a molar. I mean that just lit me up. Naturally I went to the emergency and was told the dental office didn’t open until the morning. They gave me some Advil. Needless to say, sleep didn’t come easy. Of course there’s nothing easy that goes on here either. The way the medical provisions are set up here, the military get first priority. I don’t really have a problem with that philosophy but it took almost 5 hours of waiting to get to see the dentist. They patched me up and said I needed a crown. So guess what I’ll get when I go home. Gee not bad, I work in a palace and now I get a crown.
We had a ton of celebratory fire the other night. I thought the compound was under attack. There were bullets falling everywhere. There was only one person hit in the leg in the compound but over 46 Iraqis were injured in Baghdad due to the gun fire. I still don’t understand the philosophy.
We celebrated the oldest and youngest person in theater this week. The oldest is a 75 year old man who served in the Marine Corps during WWII. The youngest is a young lady in the US Army who just turned 18. She’s really very sweet and works on the same floor as we do.
I guess most of you are aware that we arrested another military officer. One of the gratuities that she got from a contractor was a Cadillac Escalade. She exclaimed that she earned this for her duty in Iraq. I would love to ask her if she was more deserving than the Marines fighting house to house. I wonder where there Escalades are.
One of the agents was reviewing his American Express bills and saw that his wife and son went out to dinner. The bill without a tip was $169. He said “this is just great, my wife and son eat the finest food available and I’m eating KBR.”
The other night I was walking rather briskly around the first floor and almost ran straight into Ambassador Kahlizad and General Casey. General Casey is about my height but Ambassador Kahlizad is pretty tall. That wouldn’t be too cool if I had knocked one of them down but they are pretty fairly friendly considering their lot in life.
I think I mentioned in my last email about an Iraqi lady who now lives in Chicago whose doing translation work here. She explained that when her family left in 1973 when she was 17, her parents had lost everything they owned to the Saddam Hussein regime. She introduced another Iraqi lady to us who works with her as a translator and who also relocated in the Chicago area. I see both of these ladies at church almost every weekend. This other lady explained that she had been in Chicago for about 7 years. She told me she finally was able to come to the United States after spending 7 years in a refugee camp in Syria. She said it was better than staying in Iraq. I did not have the heart to ask her about her experience in Iraq. The only thing I can say is if she felt that 7 years in a refugee camp was better than Iraq, it must have been a living hell for her. I mean what I’m living in right now is austere but it’s okay. A refugee camp is probably one step better than a jail and in Syria God only knows what they had to eat and where they slept let alone medical care.
I’ll close this with one more item for thought. I learned this week that Boston College run by the Jesuits had a school called Baghdad College Prep where Jesuit priest taught Iraqi youth. They were taught English and had a very stringent curriculum. When Saddam came to power, he threw the Jesuits out and the school deteriorated from that point.
Well, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas just in case I don’t get another update out before then. Please do me one favor and that is to stay close to your family and friends because that’s what it’s all about. I want to leave you with a thought that was passed on to me and really demonstrates the military mind set.
A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A Marine, I puzzled, some twenty years old, All dressed in cammies, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light. Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam', And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother... Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?" It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.
Merry Christmas To All. Best. Bob
EUROPE --- George Bush was up to his dirty tricks again. In an age where global warming is destroying the world, scientists in Europe accused President Bush of using a secret weather program to cause a massive blizzard throughout Europe.
