Entry # 67: August 19, 2006

Camp Slayer, Baghdad, Iraq

I’ve been working 16 hour days for three weeks straight. I am a whipped puppy. I don’t know how lawyers do it (or rather, how they bill it). So I took a much needed evening off and gave myself some me time. What did I do? Well, I couldn’t exactly skip on down to the nearest pub, grab a pint and watch some soccer matches, so I did the next best thing. I entered a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament that brought contestants from all over BIAP (Baghdad International Airport, the compound that encompasses a myriad number of camps).

I hadn’t played Texas Hold ‘Em in many months, probably a year and a half at least. But the days and nights spent honing my skills in the back room of my fraternity house, Pi Kappa Phi, at my alma mater Presbyterian College, sure came in handy. It felt like amateur night and I was Johnny Chan. I cleaned house. Needless to say I won it all, knocking out 4 out of the 5 rounders at the final table. Military guys are lousy poker players. There is a lot of bravado involved in their betting and they are very reluctant to toss in a bad hand. Now I didn’t exactly learn from playing against Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey, but Jeremy Johnson, Brandon James, and Travis Goforth (three of my fraternity brothers) were the next best thing. I’d love to go back and ante up against those guys.

In addition to the poker tourney, I also went to the on-post market, or bazaar as it is called. Matter of fact, bizarre just might be the right word to describe it. There was silverware supposedly used by Saddam himself on sale for the bargain price of $30. I’m not so sure it was real silver or even used by Saddam, but it was very ornate. There was also the $3 dollar movie selection and no, they were not rental movies. I’m not sure what to make of digital pirating, but it is slightly amusing to watch one of these things and see the script roll up the screen advertising the fact that it is an international crime to copy the following movie. I might be an accomplice, but what are they going to do, send me to Baghdad?

Speaking of my present location, Baghdad smog would put Los Angeles to shame. Breathing in this air is like smoking a cigarette while running the Peachtree Road Race on the 4 of July in Atlanta humidity and I work on top of Heartbreak Hill. Every time I think I’m in shape, I climb the hill and discover there’s always room for improvement. I guess that’s the name of the game all over Iraq. Improve the situation from where it is now. It’s certainly no short term game plan, but radical change doesn’t happen overnight. Even when the US was but an infant amongst adults, democracy took time for us to get the basics right (the Articles of Confederation didn’t exactly pan out) and it is still being refined today. One thing lacking amongst the majority of the people, especially the media, in the States is a severe lack of patience. As I remind my Soldiers and from, time to time, my commanders, patience is a virtue. I don’t expect us to remain here until the Iraqis get it right—heck, I’m not even sure we have it down yet—but we’ll have to stay until they can manage or until patience no longer remains a virtue to the majority. And so the Soldier’s life continues…