Children of the Sun

It has been awhile since I have updated you about my progress here, and for that I apologize. Time is fleeting, its fluttering wings whisper, "you've got one foot in the past, one in the future, and you're pissing all over today." Yet I can't pull myself from the bed for even one moment I have to myself. You see, our Commander is leaving in September, and I think he has dedicated himself to either killing us with work, or driving each and every soldier here stark raving mad. Whichever is easier. We have shifted schedules, we work 14 days straight, then get 4 days "off". Since there is no such thing as time off, our days away from our Iraqi soldiers are filled with cleaning our weapons and vehicles, making maps, and other maintenance type activities. Today is Thursday, I have had about 9 hours sleep since Monday morning, and we have 10 days of this left. Almost got my silly butt blown up yesterday. A huge car bomb exploded about 75-100 meters from me, it's a miracle my gunner didn't get hurt. We had to kill the puppy, Grace. She had a terrible skin disorder and was miserable, so we gave her relief. Too bad, I liked her even if she did think my room was a poop receptacle. Anyway, enough explanation for my absence. What I wanted to tell you about today struck me in a way I can't put into words. We were on patrol this morning and I was speaking with a local woman. She said, "I am sorry for the rubbish here in my neighborhood, I called the city about it, but no one came." There is automatic rifle fire all around us, 4 bombs went off in the area this morning, and I am talking to a person that finds it important to tell me of her efforts to clean up her neighborhood. I was speechless. How do you reply to that? You may not understand, but trust me, it was really touching.