Baghdad Home of a Madman

Baghdad home of a madman
After off-loading our bags we had a 30-40 minute wait before our ride arrived. While we stood outside joking and carrying on a fifty cal machine gun broke into our conversation. At first I was a little startled but as I looked around at the folks with patches on their rights sleeve I noticed that they had not even missed a beat in their conversation. (Soldiers with patches on their right sleeve have been in country for a while. There is a time frame that you must be here before you allowed to wear the Combat Patch) would this be me in a couple of months? If so would this really be a good thing or a bad thing? We boarded the bus and headed out. All that could be seen was the destructive power of the millions of dollars of bombs that we had dropped on this country. Everything was a sandy gray color. Most buildings that we passed had holes in them or the roof was gone. A sad sight even to a GI who was glad that we were doing what we were doing. As we went over speed bumps around potholes and through checkpoints nothing changed, until we reached the inside of the wire. Inside the wire I saw millions of dollars in temples and hideaways. This madman built an enormous playground for the kids. The kids whose parents he had enslaved beaten and stolen the spirit from. Inside the palace the first thing I noticed was the marble. Not only were the floors made of marble but the walls as well. And then there was the lighting, chandeliers in every room. Enormous beautiful rooms with grand archways. It could be seen that the man had a passion for spending the aide monies that the US and other countries had sent his people. As we were shown around the base I saw where many buildings had been patched with new brick. Man, we really did blow the shit out of HIS country. Finally we were shown to our trailers and we were able to put up our things. I decided that even though I was tired I would get a quick shower before calling it a day. As I was finishing up I heard it BOOM then a delay and BOOM again. Oh shit I thought. Please do not let them take me out day one on the ground. I want to go home all in one piece. I quickly dried put on my clothes and swiftly headed back to my trailer. Like there was some kind of safety in my tin trailer house. As I entered the room my roommate said jokingly “ You still alive “. I said yes but I just could not get it out of my head. Would this be the closest I ever got to death? I sure as hell hope so.