This says more than I can

What follows is the E mail I received from my son this morning from Iraq. This is the way I got it so you can tell I resisted correcting an occasional mispelling. It speaks much louder than I can.

All right folks, here we go again.

In my quest for answers for my subject line I have
found part of my answer.
Most of the Airman and Solders here are I will
freely admit we are getting rather bitter. Hating this
country and hating the fact that they are here
fighting a war in a country that it would seem that in
we are not wanted or appreciated. We hear on a regular
basis of our friends getting killed or shot into.
People we saw just a few weeks ago getting sent home
on a stretcher rather than their own feet.
Living here in Mosul's pop up target you get
rather quickly frustrated with rarely being able to
shoot back. Nothing you can do but stand there and
hope that their aim dose not improve. So as you can
understand that there is a lot of frustrations that
are getting blamed on all Iraqis. Because here you
never can tell who is pretending to be your friend and
who actually is.
As was mentioned in the last installment, our
neighbors the Jassem family were the unfortunate
recipient of some of this "inaccurate fire" In witch
it wounded their little girl who was still quietly
sleeping. She was peppered with shrapnel all up and
down her little back. Fortunately we were able to have
her rushed to the local hospital. She has in these few
weeks remarkably bounced back. If it was not for the
bandages you would not be able to tell that this
little eight year old was injured.
Some of us imprisoned on the academy felt rather
guilty that they received the rounds that were meant
for us. A few collections were taken up and some care
package items were donated. I hope that the people who
sent me the monstrous amounts of candy and snack foods
do not mind that it went to a different recipient. We
figured that it would brighten their day more than it
would ours.
So I ask myself when another travesty to our
collective intelligence come out of our leadership,
"What the hell am I still doing here?" I mearly need
to look over the wall at the small stucco house and
say to myself. To give them something that they have
never had before:

hope.

The pictures.


This is most of the Jassum family, minus the
working husband. The mother ended up with two boxes of
assorted items. Mainly junk food, sorry mom...


Second, Santa Clauses (intentionally misspelled).
Our two interpreters that jumped on the opportunity to
do something different. Collectively known as the
"smegals". SSgt M. Sorenson, and Sra. D. McDuffy.(the
ones in "coffee stain" 3-color).


Lastly. The little girl and "mac" he was sent in
one of the "any airman" packages. I will miss wearing
that bird tucked into my shoulder holster for boring
meetings, form filling outs and any other reasons I
needed to see if my troops are paying attention. But
he is in much better hands now.

It is the little things like this that put a face
on the country you only see bad things of in the news.
As for me it was good to put down the rifle and step
back for a second. Helps me on my quest to answer my
question. "what the hell am I still doing here".

until next time

Bruce