The Joys of Life

It has been a while since my last post and when my mother is asking me what's going on I figure that it is time to write.

The past two weeks have held the usual comings and goings of work over here. Along with that come the ups and downs, including my mood which went from contentment, frustration, depression, and even led to me being quite irate for a while. All of this in the period of two weeks and I honestly didn't have anything good to say on the blog.

Today the writing will make you happy, sad, and possibly disgusted. It will be graphic yet simple and will be true to my goal of the blog: to provide insight into the life of a soldier on deployment in Iraq. Here goes. . .

I can't remember the last time I was sick. I have had allergies plague me daily but nothing has really put me down in a while, that is until this morning.

I woke up bright and early before the sunrise to a foggy, mist ridden sky. It was like all normal mornings except that I was hot, possibly even sweaty. It was quite the awkward feeling and it took me a few minutes to realize that my stomach was being twisted into knots. Most of you know the feeling, it's the one that makes you say, "uh oh". It was too late. I waddled in my pajamas to the bathroom to, um, well, use the toilet I guess I'll say. After ten minutes of torture, I began the slow saunter back to the room so I could go shower and get ready for work; I wasn't sure going to work today was a good idea.

When I met up with the rest of the team I didn't mention my problem immediately because I didn't see any need for concern and I thought I would save the embarrassment, but then I overheard the others. "How are you feeling?" one asked. "I was up all night hovering over the toilet!" he replied. "So was I", said another. "Just what the heck is going on?". Uh oh, sounds like we all ate some bad food. As people slowly showed up to work we realized that one person wasn't coming in, two had been up all night vomiting and I was in my condition. We decided to drive on because we had to mission to accomplish that day.

As we headed out onto the road everyone was weary of what lay ahead, the possibility of getting sick on the road and having to stop. Well as it turned out we had to stop four different times for vomiting and bathroom sessions on the side of the highway. There was nowhere to hide, you just hopped out and let it all go for everyone to see. People who had felt fine that morning were now joining the rest on the side of the roadway. It was quite the sight but we finished the mission and made it home.

When I got back, Chris who had gone out with us the other day came up to ask if I was sick. I found out that he too had been up all night with all of the same symptoms and was cursing the food we must have eaten. Two days past we had stopped at the Sheik's house for lunch and the sheep must have been tainted because it was the only thing we all ate. In total, six out of nine on the team had gotten sick as a result and so we still don't know what tomorrow will bring, except that we won't be going out with everyone sick.

That's the story folks. Take it for what it's worth. People want to know what a soldiers life is like, and sometimes their stories from war will sound just like mine. Living and working with the same people for this long brings out the best in human nature and sometimes it brings out the worst. You see it all and you take what you can from it, then you move on.

Smiles from Iraq and Happy Halloween,

Nick