Good day friends, family and strangers. Yet another journal entry has been bestowed upon the world! Oh glory days! So how are you all? We are busy trying to hold the ever-fluid peace over here. It is difficult to plug the holes that form in the dam we are building (no “damn we are building” jokes!). Still can’t be sure who is a friend and who is an enemy. We now have some Iraqi special forces with us. They are a godsend. The best tool we have been issued out here on the western front of this vast desert. They don’t care about the tribal politics out here. They just want to have Iraq back. They can tell at a glance who is a foreigner and who is a native Iraqi. (Most of the Mujhadeen are foreigners – hence being able to identify them gives us a distinct advantage) But there are still factions fighting each other and us. Some don’t like that one group favors us, so they side with the Muj (pronounced “mooge”) and plot against us. Then the allegiances change. They steadily try and kill each other more than they try to kill us. But this is a region of the nation that even Sadam couldn’t control. So, that being said, our men and women are doing a pretty damn fine job. They are slowly, but steadfastly, changing the mental paradigm that the people are nothing and only a select few matter. I think the Iraqi national soccer team, doing as well as they have, is helping us in this task. It is something to rally around with pride. There is celebration and honor in the hearts of Iraqis, gained without bloodshed. Even the foreign fighters rally with them because they are a predominately Muslim team. It might be worth wild to pour money into the national team to continue this trend.

The religious zealots that have a monopoly on the fundamentalists will have to be routed out by force, as they always have throughout history. There is nothing you can do for an individual who has decided that God has told him to die for the cause. It is an unfortunate and dark side of religion. It is sad; it draws dark shadows over a religion that, at one point, was one of the most forgiving and understanding in history. But times change, as does man. But one thing remains the same; someone somewhere will manipulate belief systems and distort them to facilitate their agenda. It will always remain a cheap and effective way to attain goals for those who want to extract their revenge on a world that disagrees with them. Even if the bloodshed was seen as absurd to the rest of humanity, God has always be used as an excuse to kill. Hopefully someday we will be able to get past this, but for now, it takes a special kind of individual and commitment to stand up to these bullies and protect those who cannot protect themselves. Someone to kick them out of the school yard, because there is only so many times you can turn the other cheek, and some threats do not allow you to turn it once, but to stand your ground and fight.

I know many of you want us to come home and don’t like that we are out here, but please remember that this is a VOLUNTEER force. And you can no longer be placed in the infantry unless you ask for it. So all of these “kids”, as we so misname them, know the dangers and requirements and the responsibilities bestowed upon them, and they come nonetheless. That is the exact quality that drives us to revere them. They are filled with fears, yet somehow fearless and eager. They come from the dregs of society and the multi million dollar families our nation is known for. From provinces and states so different that their accents are as if they come from different nations. And they all fight together; side-by-side, to protect this experiment we call America. An experiment that is unique in history. Witnessing them in action is an awe-inspiring experience. So when you criticize for whatever reason, remember, they are not only bring us all closer as a country, behind rallying points both pro and con, but they are closing the gaps of racism, shattering the misunderstandings between economic diversities and solidifying trust in humanity and America through living, laughing, bleeding and dying together. For each other, and for you.