Entry # 66: August 6, 2006

Camp Slayer, Baghdad, Iraq

Since I will be performing missions outside the wire in Baghdad, I am required to wear a certain extra amount of body armor in carrying out my task. In addition to the 45 lb vest I already wear, I will be donning two 7 lb side armor plates and wearing Kevlar protection on my upper arms. Have you ever seen “A Christmas Story” when the youngest son has trouble moving his arms and body because he is wearing so many clothes? That is exactly how I feel. I’m almost like a human tank. I know it is meant to protect me, but if I can’t move, it kinda makes me a sitting duck. The way I explained it to my parents was like this. Say you are hunting two animals, an antelope and an elephant. Sure the antelope might be killed with one shot, but it’s pretty tough to get that one shot, especially if it’s on the move. When you are aiming for the elephant, you know you can’t take it down in one shot, but you also know it can’t get away too fast and that you’ll be able to fire shot after shot at it. Wearing all this stuff makes me feel like the elephant. I want to be the antelope. Less is more in my book.

So I’m in Baghdad, looking forward to taking care of business. However, I still do read the newspaper. The featured editorial this Sunday really didn’t apply to me, but nonetheless it caught my eye. The writer was a military wife. The gist of her writing was that life is hell on her end too. It really opened my eyes to the other side of what some of my Soldier’s wives and girlfriends were going through (not to mention my family back in the States). It is tough on the wives. Emotionally, it probably is more strenuous. The constant worry about whether or not your loved one is at this moment being shot at or mortared, avoiding the news because you don’t want to hear about another death—which may or may not be from your loved one’s unit, the burden of taking care of the kids by yourself while still maintaining a household, the emptiness that accompanies each night spent alone in a bed the two of you picked out together. Being a military wife is tough and those ladies have my admiration for their courage, their commitment, and their loyalty. If you know a military spouse, give her your thanks and offer your help in any manner. Lord knows, they deserve it. And so the Soldier’s life continues…