Stage One

Stage 1
The trip had three stages the first stage being the longest. After what seemed like an eternity of riding in the truck we arrive at the first stop. As I sat and relaxed I began to realize things about myself that became all too unsettling. The first thing that popped into my mind was that at any point during this trip I could hear the words IED......... or not hear the words and just be dead, not living, no more. Gone, without life, history. These thoughts took me spinning like I was inside a kaleidoscope towards family and home. I saw my wife and kids standing over me looking down upon my lifeless body crying. The flag draped casket looking ever powerful. I began to understand things about life that I had never pondered before. The complaining and whining that I had done since arriving in this country all boiled down to just one thing whining. These guys, two in front and one on top in the gunner position do this everyday. They load up and drive these “highways of death” without complaint without talk of death. They just do what they have to do and try to enjoy it as much as they can. I salute these real Heroes and real soldiers for I am just a small part of the game and they are a big part of the Success of this adventure. Death, fascinating, wondering if what we believe is really there, or if we just die into blackness. These things would haunt me for the next several hours. As we drove quickly through the darkness, I noted that the roads had no stripes. It was just as black as the night, hard to see at times. As we drove we crossed from the southbound lanes to the north bound and back again. This in itself was scary. How about stopping on a dark highway blocking traffic watching as the vehicles approached? The gunner on top is responsible for stopping traffic using any method necessary. This time he only had to use his spot light to light up the cab of the trucks or cars and they would hurriedly pull off the road and turn off their lights. They know that the military is not a force to be reckoned with. We could see the convoy lights but they seemed to be fading and then they disappeared. We made a hasty u-turn. Not a TV u-turn as the up-armored HUMMV is like a tank and seems to me to be really top heavy. We headed back. As we were headed that way a voice reported that we had a truck with a blown engine. One of the HUMMVs was stopped with the hood up and soldiers scrambled all over to find the source of the massive leak. Being a mechanic I knew that it was not the engine but did not look at it. They quickly hooked up a tow bar and got it ready to tow. I stood on the side of the highway in utter disbelief. The darkness, the thoughts of be-headings instinctively put my hand on my 9 mm as I scanned the darkness beyond the glare from the flashlights. There was a sense of urgency among the others but none had shown one ounce of fear. I think that was my job. I did not show it to them but I did not do a lot of anything just scanned the darkness for the enemy. Thankfully I did not see anything and we were loaded up and off to the races again. For the next 30 minutes or so I sat and listened to my heart slow from a pound to a regular heart beat again. To think at any minute within the last 3 and half hours I could have ceased to exist. Makes life matter so much more. These guys do this kind of thing 5 or 6 times a week and I complain about what I do??? Do I really have room to do so?? So we get to the end of stage one.