The weekend, and Sara

So I'm back. This trip has been the longest 3 days since I've been in this country. This mission would normally take 4-5 days, but the unit we ran with is going home in a matter of days, and they just wanna get the mission done with. Thus, it meant staying on the road for 10+ hrs, pain in the ass when you're the gunner having the damn wind and cold bitch slapping you the whole time. lol. Thank god for Frappucino's and Caffeine Pills, that's all I gotta say. I got in a bigass argument with my PLT SGT. Of course, whether you're right or wrong, if you're the private. then you're automatically wrong. JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE FOR 5 FUCKING MINUTES. STOP MICROMANAGING MY SHIT!!! ok...wuuuusssaaahhh...calm...

So it was totally awesome and surprising, We stopped back at Scannia on the way down to fuel, and so our gun truck was at the same spot outside the wire, waiting for the rest of the convoy to line up as usual, when "Sgt K" says to me. "hey, I think I see Sara." Bullshit. "No, Really" Hey, It is her.

She comes up, I'm still on the turret and she reaches up towards me, I reach to her and we kinda shake hands. I'm like "No school?" She replies "It's Friday" (lucky bastards...no school on friday lol) I see in her hand she's holding cheap iraqi cloth that she's selling. But she doesn't try to sell it to me. We're pretty much officially acquaintances now; I'd like to think anyways. I see that she's not wearing any shoes? "Where's your shoes??" she jsut shrugs her shoulders, smiling. I shake my head. (I'm going to buy me a pair of shoes and give it to her; keep it in the back seat of the humvee till I see her again) So we B.S. for a little bit, and I jump down in the hatch and grab a bunch of free munchies that I grabbed at Joe's Cafe, I put it in an AAFES bag tie it up, motion to her "Shhh" motion for her to come to the other side of the humvee, away from the rest of the kids, and I give her the back of snacks. At that point I've decided that I'd like to unofficially adopt her. lol. I'm startin to treat her like a lil sister. There's just something about her, you can tell. I've seen hundreds of Iraqi kids, from 3 years old to mid-teens, begging for food, no shame. "STA..STA" (money..money) Little kids selling porn, knives, cheap cigarettes. But there's just something about this little girl that you can just tell is different. She's NEVER begged me for food, I've never seen her beg the other soldiers. Yes, she does have stuff to sell, but I didn't see her actively trying to sell it to anyone, she kinda just lingers, small talks to the arabic civilian contractors. I'm thinking maybe that's what they're told to do. Here's the stuff...go sell it. You just have to be there. These people are no different from us. They're human beings, just like us. Most the kids are gonna grow up and do the same thing their parents do, farmer's,truck drivers, who know's. I'm just blabbing now. But ya. Now everytime I go to Scannia I'll be looking for Sara.