Deployment Blues

Well, it's that time again. Time to serve when my Uncle calls.

I head to Iraq in the very near future, for my second tour in that war-torn country. I hesitate to call it a nation, because it has never been a unified people. A country created out of three separate regions, with multiple cultural and religious groups, without a unified focus or goal, does not a nation make. Just a country, and even then that status was forced on it.

It'll be a year (or so) with all the sun and sand I can absorb - just no surf. I'll be sure to take more photos this time than I did last time, to chronicle where I've been, who I knew, what I saw, and what I did, but in the interests of keeping things secure, I'm not sure how I'll manage that.

I'm hoping to somehow bend time, make the time go by more quickly, to return to my family and my avocations as soon as possible. Working 6 1/2 days a week for the next year (or so) doesn't thrill me much.

Luckily, I'm going with some good people. Here's hoping the war ends and President Obama gets us out as promised.

Of course, there's always Afghanistan to look forward to...