It's been a little longer than I wanted it to be since I've last updated our blog. I've been very busy working 7 days a week a minimum of 10 hours a day. The good thing is that I am extremely busy and the time seems to go by very fast. We are all doing well and there have been no serious incidents on our camp.
I have been working as the Badge and Access Control Officer and get to work with Iraqis as well as people from all around the world. There are a lot of language barriers that I run into working, but we all do our best to work through them. I also teach an Escort Class once a week to both military and civilians on our camp.
The strangest thing to get use to is that there are no children or domestic pets around us. I had a chance to visit the Iraqi side of our camp one day when we first got here. I saw a small child riding with his father in a pick up truck; he gave us a thumbs up as they drove by. It's the little things like that that really hit home. That was the last child I've seen over 2 months ago.
A lot of the Iraqis are glad we are here and are afraid that we will leave before the work is done. The people all have stories of life under Saddam and while things are beyond what we can ever image they say it is still better for them now. The people talk about having peace and a government that can stand on it's own to help them. Some people talk about loved ones and family members being tortured and executed for helping the Americans; but they believe that what they are doing will help make their country strong and give them a better life in the future. It's very common for people to only have between 1 to 5 hours of electricity a day and drinkable water is almost unheard of.
It's easy to hear their stories and know what we are doing is right. I have a chance to meet a lot of soldiers who are the real heroes. Everyone misses their families and their homes, but I've yet to hear any of the soldiers say they want to leave.
I get a chance to call home regularly and correspond by e-mail. It's always great to hear the things family and friends are doing. I look forward to getting back home and back to work once my job here is finished.
I'll try to keep up with the blog on a regular basis. I look forward to hearing from everyone.
God Bless,
CPT Mike
