Wunder Blog : Weather Underground

Posted by: oneshotww, 2:54 AM GMT on October 30, 2009

Talked to my son in Iraq the other day. He was finally able to give me some details of the conditions in Iraq. He told me they are down to four working showers and because they operate on different shifts, it’s adequate. When more soldiers arrive he’s not so sure how it will be. He told me that all the washing machines are broken. He found a 12 quart cooler and fills it with 5 gallons of water and that’s how he does his laundry and I quote, “mom, I do my laundry the old fashioned way, I stir it with a stick”. I would be funny until you hear about the billions of dollars the U.S. is spending on this war. Two dogs call the compound home, they are wild dogs from the surrounding City and the soldiers feed them. I forget their names but it seems to bring some sense of normalcy to have dogs around them.

He said they work 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week and he doesn’t have a lot of down time. The time there is going by fast because of this. They aren’t allowed off the compound anyway so it’s not like you can go “into town” when your shift is over. You work, eat and sleep and maybe read or surf the internet a little bit and that’s about it. He said his MOS = his job (help me out Vets ‘cause I can’t remember what it stands for) isn’t needed much right now so he’s working inside in the AC and it’s not too bad. His leave is scheduled for end of December beginning of January. We will miss the holidays with him but I don’t much care, I just want him home. It’s gonna be real tough to let him go back.

A friend at work told me that she intentionally doesn’t ask about my son in Iraq. Bless her, I’m glad, I don’t want to talk about it. Most of the time I can pretend it’s not real – as I said before I want to wake up one morning and have him home and have it all be over. Usually I’m OK……… then something will happen and I feel like I was hit over the head with a ton of bricks. When I was photoing at the pumpkin patch recently, I commented to one of the moms that I remembered photoing my son by pumpkins some twenty years ago. As I turned to leave it hit me, MY SON IS IN IRAQ!!! and I wanted to bust out crying. It happened again a few days later when I went to the post office to get a box to ship stuff to him in Iraq. When I hear on the news that there was a bombing and some people were killed, I hold my breath until I hear the location was Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran… then I hold my breath again until I hear the dead and injured are civilians and not service personnel. I feel like the most horrible person in the world for thinking that, but I can’t help myself and I ask forgiveness for it.

It didn’t mean much to me then (I was just a kid), but I do remember the evening news on TV in the late 60’s giving the body counts from Vietnam every night. Don’t get me wrong, I am by no means comparing the Vietnam War with Iraq, I am, however, wondering how in the world those folks with loved ones over there could watch that every night??? It would make me puke. Thanks for listening and letting me get this out. I apologize for the length but it’s not healthy to keep it in – writing about it helps.