Week 23

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One of the best rides you can go on is a helicopter banking sharply over the Karadah Pennisula, shooting out flares to ward off rockets.

Perspective

After being away from home for more than seven months, it is very easy to lose perspective. Heck, after only a few months I was settled into my tiny trailer. The walk to my car, once only down the stairs and in the driveway, is now a half-mile jaunt. I celebrated a huge accomplishment last night when I put some screws in the wall to hang my clothes and towel. Seven car bombs went off around the city, but they couldn't match the importance of my new coat rack.

That is the way things are, I guess. Humans are essentially a nomadic people. Being in Iraq has become perfectly natural for me.

Yet, even as a walk through Saddam's palaces, drive under golden arches (not McDonalds) and jam to Islamic chanting, there is only one thing that makes me stop to reassess where I am. Helicopters.

There is something completely unnatural to machines thumping across the sky. Godless, wingless creatures that defy common sense with unmatched agility. They fly with a frequency that can only be attributed to war and, even more than the weapons we hold, they are symbolic of conflict.

I don't think there is anything that makes me remember quite like it. There are some things too bizarre and alien to become common-place and helicopters are one of them.

I have been fortunate enough to ride in more than my share of choppers. You would think it feels like a roller coaster, but the ride is so smooth. It is like an elevator with windows, giving an unmatched view of the city.

It is my dream to own one someday. A small one, of course. Grandpa has the Lucky Lady. I want to have a cleverly-named helicopter. Perhaps, the Orlando Oriole. I could paint it orange… well, if you haven't noticed, we have a lot of time to dream about the things we want once our coat racks are complete.

Oh, and I also built a shelf out of a piece of wood and a dozen romance novels. These are the good stories you will never see in the news: Soldier builds stuff from junk. Things are shaping up quite nicely.