DAY 94 / MAR 03

Day 94 / Mar 03

            Here we are, one step closer to the big 100.  It isn't even 1/3 of the way there, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than anything under it.   Its just another milestone, a marker on the way that indicates we are on the right path.

            As usual, the rumors fly about when we're going home – so far I've heard everything from September 2006 to February 2007.   I've heard that we're invading Iran and that we're all consolidating somewhere else.  So far, we haven't done any of it.   And really, even if someone, somewhere did say any of those things at one point in time – they probably already changed it.

            Nothing new around here, the weather gets better and the bugs get worse.   Showers are still warm and the meetings continue as usual in the mornings.  Normally tomorrow would be a day to sleep in, but instead I have to get up for a rousing game of Dodgeball with the Battalion Leadership.   After we give them a good spanking, we have a leaders teach where we learn how to operate some of the equipment we've been using since we got here – I guess practical experience doesn't count when it comes to Army logic.

            I read recently that someone polled the troops and discovered that almost ¾ of them (us) think we should pull out of Iraq and go home.   Somehow, I don't see what the purpose of this poll really was.  Its great to know what the troops think, I suppose, but it really doesn't matter.   If you polled the Soldiers under me, I'm sure the majority would tell you that they didn't think they should be doing whatever it is they were doing (regardless of what it was).   Soldiers don't make those decisions because they are too close to the situation to make a logical choice.  All the Soldier sees is whats right in front of him, the smallest of localized pictures.   Even the Commander of all the US forces in Iraq doesn't see the whole picture (but he sees a whole lot more than I do, or my Soldiers).  That's why there are people up there making decisions based on all or at least most of the information available, because they can.   We, as Soldiers, can bitch and complain about how we should leave, how we aren't doing anything, blah blah blah.  But, in the end, we should realize and accept that there IS a reason for being here, even if we don't see it in our extremely localized perceptions.