Captain’s Log

It has been far too long since I’ve written.  I wonder how many times I’ll have to begin my entries that way.  I have been too busy since my arrival in this god-forsaken land to write a proper entry.  Even now all of my intelligence is not gathered up in my as it is very late into the night and I have been working all the day long.  i do not mind the work, nor the length of it.  I just wish I could have a little time to write every few days.

I have been on seven missions since I wrote last.  three of them were to al Qaim, two to Hadithah, one to Hit and another to the middle of nowhere in the southwestern Iraqi deserts.  The first was a recovery mission to the desert.  We were supposed to pick up some trucks that broke down in the desert, but by the time we got to where they were supposed to be, the scavengers of the desert had already taken them.  So we were forced to return empty handed.  A few more missions after that one of our men fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended another truck.  We had to medevac a few men and only one of the trucks could be towed.  the wheels had locked on the other and so we dragged it off to one side of the road and reduced it to a small, black, and twisted heap of smoking metal with fifteen pounds of composition C-4.  We placed two sticks on each of the three axles, two on the full gas tank, and four on the engine block.  The fuel burned on the wreckage in a big, billowing, black pillar of smoke long into the morning.

Iraq is a real shithole the likes of which I’ve only seen in video games.  I love it.  It’s been 5 days since my last entry.  The full moon is almost upon us.  Hmm … I had a lot to write but my mind just went blank.  Anyway, we landed in Rome, took our flight over Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Kuwait city.  From there it was a short bus ride to Camp Victory where we stayed for a night and a day.  From there we took a C130 up to Taqaddum and spent the night.  Most of our company then flew in helos to al Asad but we got shafted and had to hop back in a C130, fly some corpses all the way back to Kuwait, and then fly all the way up here to al Asad.  The next day we didn’t do much except play football.  The day after that our barracks was ready, but while everyone else was movingin into it, myself and a few other Marines were sent on a mission.  We had to drive some 5 hours south and west into the desert to recover 3 vehicles.  If they were not recoverable we were to destroy them.  But when we got out there the vehicles were already gone.  Iraq is full of scavengers, apparently.  That was yesterday.  Today I woke up to incoming mortars.  Awesome.  They hit out fuel depot, the lucky bastards.  200,000 gallons of fuel is sending flames 50 feet into the air and making a billowing black cloud to cover the sky even as I write this.  Awesome.  Tomorrow I get to clear some landmines.  Finally.

I am on my way to Rome, Italy, the holy city of Catholicism.  Right now I am 35,000 feet above Etienne, France.  I have never been out of the United States of America before, so this will be new to me.  I have always wanted to visit Rome; too bad I’m only going to see the airport.  After Rome we stop somewhere in Kuwait, and from Kuwait we will travel to al Asad, Iraq.  Less than one day, now.

I figure now’s as good a time as any to educated you, the reader, on my perspective of the world.  When I was a kid in school I was asked to write an essay on the following question:

When you are about to die, what do you want to see when you look back at your life?

After thinking carefully on it, I decided that I wanted my response to be something like, “Woah … that was fantastic!” And to this day I still firmly believe that the only life for me is the sort of life that other people would read as a fairy tale.  I have always wanted to surpass the stories of the old heroes that everyone reads, Achilles and Odysseus, Alexander, Napolean, Hercules, Prince Charming, Gilgamesh, and all the rest.  The basis of my lifestyle can be summed up in four words:

Honor, Glory, Pride, Power

No one of these is more important than the other, and they are all of the utmost importance.  I was raised to be Christian, and throughout my youth was one of the most devout followers of the Christ I have ever met.  But as I matured I began to think, “Why should I pray to a God who would kill me if I did not love him?” And I eventually came to loathe that god and find my own religion based on things I’ve seen and heard and felt.  I don’t have time to continue to expound on my beliefs because we are about to land in Rome.  Perhaps another time?

Two days before we leave.  Cassandra came from Oregon to spend some time with me before we deploy.  She has been here for the past six days and left today.  She has only been gone for a few hours and I already miss her more than ever.  I have watched my sorceress grow stronger with each passing day, slowly and steadily maturing.  I worry that without me there to mentor her, she will lose some of her strength.  I hope that this whole ordeal will teach her how to strengthen herself, without aid.  The past six days have been wonderful, but now that she is gone I am incomplete.  For a part of myself has gone with her.  I will make it through this tour alive and stand at her side once again.  I can feel it in my heart.  Slumber beckons.