Right In Front of My Eyes

Hi…My name is James. I apologize for the way I sound, but I am currently running for my life. I am in Fawija, Iraq currently engaged in a fire fight. I’ve been fighting in this God forsaken place for 8 weeks. I have had 3 friends get their heads blown off and 5 more buddies injured or maimed. With what has been put in the White House over these past couple of weeks, it’s a little hard to swallow being here now. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind fighting, but I want to fight for our country, not these peoples country. I want to fight for a president that respects and cares for me. Someone who understands what it’s like to be here. Not someone who hates America. We now know that is out the window, so we have to fight for ourselves. We have to fight to survive and get back home to our families. These people here hate our guts. ALL of them hate us. Not just the militants. Hell the militants ARE the people. We are on their “Holy Land”. Personally, I wouldn’t give you 5 dollars for the whole damn place. This is a sorry place to have to exist, and an even worst place to have to die…..Hold on one second…

“OK men. Take cover and catch your breath!” Watch em Harvey! They are trying to flank us. They are trying to set us up for an ambush. BILL! Bring up the humvee with the .50 cal. Some of them ran into that building! No…THAT one…Yea…Right there”…

Ok….Sorry about that. T.C.B. you know. A Sergeant’s work is never done. Where was I…Oh yea. When you’re fighting a war, you’re just a number. They train you. They teach you how to kill. They give you the tools to kill and point you in the direction to do the killing. So I kill. That’s what a warrior does. Sherman said it best “War is hell.” He KNEW what he was talking about. He had experienced WAR and what it meant to be a warrior. This new president hasn’t got a clue. Now he is my commander and chief. Now this dud is running the show. It’s hard to lay your loyalty down for someone who has been pampered and groomed for only one thing. Greed not principal guides this elected person and it’s very hard to call him my president.

I am proud to serve my country, sweet land of liberty. I miss home. I wish I was home. I miss my wife and kids. I wonder what my wife Kristie Jo is doing right now. I hope my kids are ok. I miss em a lot. I feel funny. I wish I had a shower. I smell like a camel’s ass. I wish I hadn’t taken those 0.27 cents out of my cousin’s plastic Halloween pumpkin when I was 7. I paid em back 40 cents though. I hope my old mama and daddy are ok. I wish I was there to take care of them. They need me now. Whew. My head’s spinning. I’m a little light headed for some reason….Hang on..BRB

“NO!...Pull it up to that corner. Perfect. Now Bill…What I want you to do is lay down some .50 cal rounds. Pepper that building. I want you to shoot until I see something blow up. Do you hear me? “YES SIR!” OK….FIRE!” EVERYONE….FIRE AT WILL!

Ok…I’m back. It’s been a tough day clearing insurgents. Ambush my ass. I ain’t going down like that….where was I…Oh….So why are we here? I guess every soldier that fights asks that question. Why. We say we are here to save these people. These people don’t WANT to be saved. They don’t WANT us here. We are not welcome at all. So why? We are here because we have to do the work that no-one wants us to do. That’s right. I said it. We are forcing our will onto a people that hates our guts. This should work out just dandy. We have people at home protesting the war at my friend’s funerals. AT THEIR FUNERALS! They protest at a time when the families are putting their sons and daughters in the ground never to see them again…ever. Are these people human? Where is their humanity or compassion for the dead? They are godless demons. I have hope. I don’t think they do. I hope Jesus is real. I believe he is. This is my life. What is it worth? Is America worth MY life? I thought she was, but now I do not know. My life may not mean anything to America, but it does to me. It’s all I know. It’s all I have.

I wonder if the Red Bellies are biting back home? I bet old Tater is passed out on the creek bank again drunk as a skunk. Why in the HELL is everything spinning? Dang! I feel funny. Hang on..

Good damn shot Bill! Damn good shot! Man that one took the whole side of the building off. WHEW! Damn I am proud of you man! “Thank you Sir!” Damn right. Good job. POP! POP! POP! ….TAKE COVER MEN…AK-47’s!…FIRE!!!”

“Ok…I never rest. I haven’t since I have been here. Well I have something to tell yall. I have to level with you. I was dead from the first line of this story. I guess your life does pass in front of your eyes. These things happened to me just before I was killed. I guess it’s a brain thing. I don’t want to die here, but I guess I have no choice. You see I know I am dead because I saw what happened. When we blew the front of that building off, I took a team in to clear the rest of them out. I was on point. As I burst into the room, I was ambushed from behind. I know this because as I was falling, I fell sideways into the view of a mirror in the room and there he was standing behind me with his AK smoking. His red checkered towel told me the cold hard truth. Of course my team got him, but what does that do for me now? I will never see my family again and the pain my folks will have to go through may kill em. Will Sheehan and Co. protest me too? I hope not. My mom, dad, wife and children deserve better. I wish I was home. As I lay here dying, I can only think of one thing. Home. So…What was my life worth? It was worth about .17 cents...the cost of an AK-47 bullet. 

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." George S. Patton

"If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened." George S. Patton

Britton…Sgt. Mike…God bless you and your men. God bless our country. God help us through what we will have to deal with in the coming future. Pray for our country in earnest.

Deo Vindice