BOOM!
Ever played Russian Roulette with a loaded weapon? That’s ok…me either. Well, until I was activated with the Army Reserves and sent to Iraq. Tonight is 30 June 2004. The official change over to the new Iraqi government. Tonight marks the second night in a row where inbound mortars have landed within a few dozen meters of where I sleep. When one explodes you can’t help but think about the flight path that projectile flew. If the wind was a little more out of the South I wonder how much closer it would have been that time. I lay in bed at night, staring up at the ceiling, wondering if the next inbound mortar is free falling out of the night sky right towards me. Right towards my paper thin aluminum trailer. I climb out of bed and grab my body armor. Which is one size fits all of course. So it barely covers my naval when properly worn. We often joke that the body armor serves one purpose…an open casket vs. a closed casket. It’s eye wash, but that’s neither here nor there. I grab my body armor, unvelcro the straps, and spread it out over my body on top of my blanket. I curl up and laugh a pathetic laugh as I close my eyes and attempt to sleep.
BOOM!!
