War in Iraq, a Soldier's View

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07-May-03 12:30 AM

I had to make a quick entry.

We had a nice night tonight, Garcia and Keller had gotten some booze from some of the locals and they shared it with all of us tonight. I didn’t have enough to get really drunk just enough to relax and enjoy my surroundings for a little while. It was fun sitting in a circle and talking to everybody but then people started arguing about politics and other things like that and I got fed up and had to leave. I thought I should write about what I thought when I was on my own.

It was another beautiful night; I think I’ve described the type of night before. The smells, sounds, sights, and feeling was all just perfect. I just sat on the berm taking it all in. First I though about how everybody was missing one of the few times you can enjoy this place for that stupid discussion they were having behind me. They were discussing politics, things back home, and other things about the past. But no matter how much they discussed US and UN politics in Iraq there was no way that they could change the events that have happened in the last month and a half. And while they argued about what the US’s reaction to the UN resolutions SHOULD have been they were missing one of the best nights in Iraq. But then I started thinking about whether it was one of the best nights in Iraq. What made in the best night? I remember other nights that were perfect and they may have been better than this. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t experience those nights the way they were. But this night I could experience it the way it was now. The thing I realized is that you need to live in the present, not the past.

Patterson told me that people that don’t worry about world politics are close minded. But to me people that worried about world politics and let the good things in life pass them by on a night like this night, were the one’s that are close minded. When I’m on my death-bed I won’t be worrying about whether the US should have waited for UN approval before invading Iraq. I'll be regretting all those times I spent worrying about it rather than enjoying the life around me. It’s nice to know what’s going on in the rest of the world, it let’s you put things in perspective, but if the only reason that you read the news is so you can bitch about what’s wrong with America is just childish.

Then I just enjoyed the night and all the things around me. But it was sad because I only had myself to share it with. I’m in Iraq so everybody I know is half way around the world, but even if I was home I wouldn’t have anybody to share my thoughts and experiences with. Some of the guys have girlfriends and others have wives, but I don’t have anybody.

Even if I did would they be able to share my thoughts? Then I realized the most perfect mate/partner/companion however you want to say it; the most perfect companion, would be somebody that could experience things as deeply as you. I know a lot of people that I could tell them every thought I had out there tonight and they would be bored to death, they would be wondering what was on TV or something like that. It may sound conceited but I think a lot of people I know wouldn’t have the intelligence to be on my level, or at least not the maturity to discuss thing like tonight. All anybody really needs is another person that can think on the same level and share the same thoughts as you. Especially on a perfect night like this.