I remember back in the day when I was job hunting Microsoft wanted me to go to Iraq and make like $200,000 in 6 months. I really considered it, but the thought of living in a desert and getting shot at wasn't even worth that so I declined. Now that I look back, it was a good decision. Every now and then I run into a vet. No, not the vietnam vets at the VFW but the kind that is younger than me. It is always interesting and I have to give them much respect. It is weird to think that most of them are like four years younger than me. Some of them join the national gaurd for the pay for one weekend out of the month and then they get called into active duty. I remember a guy who years ago told me about how he was on patrol in Bagdad and some kids were shooting at him and they were able to take the guns from them. One of my old bosses told me about him being in the second or third tank that almost rolled into Bagdad during the first kuwait war and how all he needed was the order to enter and was told to stand down.

Today I talked to a new person here who got a bronze star in Iraq in 2005. He was one of the national gaurd that got called into active duty. His story talked about landing in Kuwait and when he got flown into Bagdad the plane had to do some kind of spiral landing to avoid gunfire. Apparently alot of the soldiers got sick on the plane going down. Once they landed it got up to 140 degrees in the desert and they have to carry 80 pounds of body armor. I know I would die if I had to do that. The key is to stay hydrated. I feel for all of the soldiers over there. They deserve our respect.

I always ask them about how are things over there. He said it is bad and they do some good over there. He said never trust the news, something which I do anyways. Like he talked about how some of his friends got hit with some serin gas, a chemical weapon. He also was there training the Iraqi soldiers but they apparently don't learn that well and are alot like kids instead of adults. Whenever they turned their back they would sit down and bust out a tea set and drink it in the middle of the checkpoint. Apparently the people over there are backwords in many ways and don't care if you tell them to stop or I'll shoot, even in arabic. There are no battles over there, just small skirmishes. He told of one skirmish where they unleashed a ton of ammo on a school that had 2 bad guys in it and they escaped anyways but the street was littered with shells. He also was told to grow a beard and wear a man dress to blend in but that is hard to do. He also wanted to bring back a bullet as a souvenier that wizzed past his head into the wall as well as a piece of a morter shell that wizzed past him as well, but they wouldn't let him bring it back. I have yet to hear the bronze star story but I am sure it is interesting.