Five years ago this month, the soldiers, sailors, and airmen that comprised the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion (your truly included) piled onto a chartered aircraft and embarked for a tour in Iraq. Over the course of that year, from various locations across the country, I found a place of support and release here at Daily Kos. As a politically active Democrat, this site was the perfect way for me to satisfy my need for political engagement from half way around the globe. If you want a sample, I think this was my best work.
And this was my rec list diary. I would like to say to the skeptics that show up later in that thread, with utmost respect and no malice, go fuck yourselves. Way to try to get a soldier to disclose his identity and location on the fucking Internet based on your bullshit assumptions. I was a civil affairs specialist, my job, among other things, was to go out with the infantry and talk to civilians, seek out local officials, and generally get a feel for the pulse of the area. The main form of transportation from base to base was helicopter, so I did fly a lot. And because I was a member of a four man team attached to an infantry battalion, when we weren't on a mission we didn't have to pull guard duty or stupid details. I would normally only go outside the wire once in a day (several times a week), typically for about three to five hours, then maybe have a couple meetings to sit in on and some paperwork to do. The challenge wasn't finding time to do stuff like this, the challenge was finding things to do to kill time. And I went to Tufts, so I probably don't write like most other enlisted personnel. I know it was a long time ago, but I remember the anger I felt being accused of being a liar and not really being able to do anything about it without jeopardizing operational security.
When I wrote the two linked diaries, I was living on a rather small desert combat outpost near the towns of Rawah and Anah, halfway between Haditha and Al Qaim in Anbar Province. At the time, Anbar was hotly contested territory. We were in a thinly populated rural area in the Sunni heartland and we faced many threats. The rocket attack I describe at the end of that first diary happened, it sounded just like the cartoons, and landed about three hundred meters from our tent. Despite the danger, those first six months in Anbar were the highlight of my tour. We were recalled to Mosul in November and spent the remaining time of the tour up north riding a desk or hanging out at a compound in town.
I want to go into more detail, but I'm afraid if I start doing that I'll be writing until next week, so I'll leave it to you guys to tease some more out of me if you so choose.
The whole point of writing this diary, though, is to say thank you for being there for me. Aside from the soldiers I worked with on a day to day basis, this forum helped me cope with my year away more than anything else. I had a place to escape the daily grind of war and engage in conversation and debate with intelligent like-minded people. I remember very well following election night in 2006 from the Internet hut on my desert camp. I was walking on air in the dark as I went back to my tent, confident that I would awake to a new political reality. That feeling of victory and doing it with all of you was an incredible emotion in that position. Then seeing Rummy resign when I was at the rec center at Al Asad a few days later will also stick with me for a long time. I won't say I couldn't have done my tour without you, but it wouldn't have been as fulfilling. My year in Iraq was one of the defining experiences of my life and this community was a part of that with me. Thank you.