Well, I'm back in Baghdad, this time on a brief trip to fill in while our Baghdad bureau chief, Leila Fadel, heads Stateside to pick up her much-deserved George Polk award for best foreign reporting.
Is Leila spending her last couple of days in Iraq polishing her acceptance speech and settling on an outfit for the awards banquet? Nope, she's in a rat-infested home in Sadr City with U.S. troops, eating MREs and staying out of the way when they come under fire, as they did yesterday. (In short, Leila rocks.)
Looks like another familiar face will be in Baghdad soon -- my best friend and college roommate, J, is now in Kuwait awaiting transfer to Iraq as part of the National Guard. I've been posting her letters home on the blog in hopes of showing the transformation of a soldier-mother on her very first deployment. Already, she's taken us through Humvee rollover training, courses on meeting tribal sheikhs, the heartbreak of kissing her daughter goodbye.
So, this is it. J is one step closer to war; she might even be here by now. In this most recent letter, she describes landing in Kuwait amid sandstorms, intense heat and a swarm of lady bugs. There is very little editing, only slight changes for curse words or identifying details.
hey all,
sorry this wont be very long right now. i guess not a whole lot to say anyway. finished up our validation at ft dix and then went on leave back home for 5 days. it was bittersweet. awesome to see my family, friends, husband and especially my little girl. in just two months she is saying everything and complete sentences too.!! she can count to 8 and knows about 5 of her colors. she even say "2 minutes" when we say its time for bed. i thought she would be a little shy when she saw me at first, but she didnt skip a beat and didnt leave my side. the 5 days were tear filled with saying good bye again, but it was very needed to see some familiar faces again.
we got back to DIX and finshed packing and cleaning and then flew out. we arrived in kuwait last night (we are 9 hours ahead of the states). so we are trying to get used to the heat (it was 115 degrees the day before we came) and also get used to the time change. dont know how long we will be here, but i just wanted to drop a quick note to let everyone know i am safe and sound. my eyes are already bloodshot from the fine, fine dust of sand that is everywhere and my nose is constantly stuffy. Hope i get used to that too. i loaded up on eyedrops and vaseline today so hopefully that helps. the skies are never clear here even though there are no clouds, due to the fine dust that is continually being stirred up :( and one thing i found interesting, is that lady bugs are all over us. this is not one insect i expected to be here. and so far in the few hours weve been here, almost everyone has had at least one on them.
a lot of people were nervous as we borded the big plane (me included) but settled down after a few hours. the anxiety then came back as we flew into kuwait and all you could see from the plane were sand dunes. very intimidating and scary. felt like you should be in a movie. but anyway that is about it for now, or at least what i can tell you anyway.
but i love you all and i will email soon.
love,
J
I love this blog.I think this site will do better in future.
Bathmate
Posted by: bathmate | December 28, 2009 at 10:20 PM