Ms Sasha,
Many thanks for your note, you sound like my wife Joanne.
For what it's worth, the troops take the risk, Im cargo. By the rules of war and my contract Im not supposed to have arms here. So when Im out with the troops I tell them that if anything happens to them, I will grab their rifle, and they will be avenged.
Being a non combatant dosen't mean I have to roll over and show bad guys my neck. Iraqi's are a polite pratical people, they would thank me for simplyfing the job before cutting it.
These are religous partisans, not real troops and follow what they think is Allah's law. Real troops have rules and guidelines. These bad guys think we are all infidels and should expire at their wish.
I suspect Allah will have some choice words before sending them to the Islamic edition of hell.
In most war's US troops came up with some nasty slang for the locals. Here it's almost respectful. We call them Hajji's. The Hajj or the once in a life time Islmic trip to Mecca is not a simple thing. It's an effort to be respected.
Another point is we defeated the Army of Saddam, not the citizens. They have been part of a 25 year train wreck.
This is a very tough part of the world to live in w/o US Army logistics.
Local food, water are all suspect. When was the last case of worms or lice you have heard of. Here it's common.
Look at the list of shots I got before this trip. Many bad things. We got warnings for bug based illnesses. Sand fleas and some kind of biting fly cary something that is nearly impossible to treat. Talked to one trooper who was stuck in Walter Reed Army medical center for 6 weeks because of this. The treatment nearly left him as a cripple. It required some kind of semi toxic metal be injected into him to kill off the desease. I don't want this one. That's the hard way to get home.
The wealthy live well and the rest hunt for scraps of wood. I diden't beleive the poverty I saw on the road here. Makes West Virginia look good.
The medics tell me the most common injury is burns from over turned cooking pots. Odd thing. Injured children don't scream much here, like they do in US emergency rooms. It's as if the code of suffering in silence is still in effect from the prior adminstration (Saddam and Co).
The medics and Army Doctor here take very good care of the locals that show up for treatment. There are translators on station with the medics unit to help out.
Islamic women here have a very rough time. One of the things we were warned about is not to look or talk to them unless talked to first. Seems that is a beating offence here under the rules. You develope a trick of looking w/o seeing. Kind of like the homless in any major city. Yes there is something in black on the bench outside the medics unit. I don't want to cause her any trouble, look at something else. Make eye contact with her husband/brother and move on be polite and move on.
For the most part the locals want to trade with us. One of the Hajji mart dudes runs the smoke shop section. He did me a favor, found a tailor who fixed a shirt. Last week I gave him a bottle of this nice Italian Iced Tea we get. The people of the Hajji mart take it as a sign of special favor if we give them something. Iced tea is a good one, it's ok under the rules of Islam.
What most AMCITS don't connect with is the rules of Islam are also survival rules in this part of the world. It's a code of conduct that allows civilized life to go on. Think about it.
Many thanks for the note and the use of this system.
Hope all is well
Jack Crow in Iraq
