I was at a base somewhere in Iraq and was able to meet some of the new members of the Iraqi National Guard (ING). Most all of the people here are glad that we are helping them out and they understand that we need to be here for a while longer.
It was a little bit difficult communicating with each other but their English is better than my Arabic and we managed to visit about some of the basic things in life. They wanted to have some of our Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) and were kind of insistent about it. After we gave them several MREs we started talking about families, which is very typical with the Middle Eastern cultures. They were very interested about my digital camera and a buddy of mine took about 15 pictures of a bunch of them. Eventually the conversation led back to families and, after I told them I was single, started asking if I had a girlfriend. Most of them were very surprised that I didn't have one and thought it strange that I didn't have any kids either. (Kind of slick how I turned this small article into a personal ad huh? - moving right along now...) The thing that gave all of us a good laugh was when the Iraqi that is on the left side of the picture said that he didn't have a girlfriend either because the last one had broke his heart! I guess we truly are all the same just below the skin!
After my buddy and I had visited with them for about a half hour they absolutely insisted that we have some of their food, which was rice, chicken and a piece of bread that looked and tasted exactly like pita bread, and then it was time to go back to work.
We, as Americans, really are doing good things over here for the Iraqis and most of them appreciate us immensely.
More to follow sometime later.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, we are still at war with the insurgents and are still losing soldiers. Hopefully things will start quieting down a little bit and we can all get back and go divin' again!
Take care everyone and we'll meet when we meet!
Kevin
