Beauty in a Fish Head

In September of 2004 I was mobilized as an Air National Guardsman to serve a tour in Iraq. I arrived in Tikrti Iraq just before the first elections were held. Here is the first story I wrote after arriving there. I hope to post them all here eventually. (note, remember, at the time my name was Sue Smith as you will see on all my uniforms!)

Right before I left for Iraq, I was watching a great program called the Power of Intent. It was one of those motivational programs and the speaker was very good. At one point, he was describing a prisoner of war's experience and how that man found the strength to find beauty wherever and whenever he could, even if it had to be in the fish head of his meager soup. Well I am by far way better off than he. And I can bemoan my situation here, or I can find the beauty in this fish head. So here is the beauty that I have found. We had a quite interesting flight on a C-130, from Qatar, through Balad, into Forward Operating Base (FOB) Speicher. Again I was human cargo, strapped to a webbed seat next to the other pallets of baggage. I stepped off of the plane in the middle of the night to the most star filled sky I had ever seen. And there ready to great me was my old friend Orion and his hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. It seems they are my guardians. I see them every morning on my way to the latrine.

The latrine and bath house are each a small prefab building called a cadillac (the cadillac of porta johns) and luckily are right near my room. It is still interesting to have to get dressed and walk outside to use the bathroom, especially in the rain. Very similar to camp, and the South Pole for that matter!

On my second day in Iraq, I had another adventuresome ride, this time in a helicopter, from FOB Speicher to FOB Danger, my new home. The ride was short, but I will never forget my first glimpse of the Tigris River, wide and muddy, with palm trees dotting the banks. That's when I knew I had finally arrived. The helicopter pilots were not too enthused about having to lug our 30 bags of stuff around and when we landed here, the choppers basically vomited our bags out and took off.

The sunrises are beautiful here. It is a land of big skies. Not many trees to be found, but still there is something so exotic about watching the sunrise through palm trees that are here. Yesterday, I awoke to the sound someone calling muslims to pray from one of the minarets in town. It is a beautiful yet haunting chant and it immediately makes you aware of where you are. Today on our way to the chow hall, we passed the minaret here on base just as the sun rose behind it.

The craftsmanship of the palaces here is really astounding. Everything is mosaic tile, marble, brass and fillagreed wrought iron. The buildings look as if they could be thousands of years old. Especially in the beat up state some of them are in. I wish I knew what the inscriptions over some of the doors say. The hallways and chandeliers are amazing. I know there are all sorts of political reasons not to like these palaces, but I like them for what they are- beautiful. And I am so fortunate to be able to be working out of one of them instead of out of a tent.

Same for my broomcloset room. It is dry and weather proof and is situated very near everything that I need to get to. And Orion and his pals greet me each time I open the door.Well, there it is- my beauty in the fish-head of an adventure. I hope to be able to write more regularly now, but who knows what each day brings. We are almost into a routine, so the time passes by fairly quickly. Tomorrow marks my first week down. What a week it has been!