Why I am Here

I was sitting in the mission office last night, watching a live feed from our UAV camera on a big television screen. At the time, we were watching some guy sitting in his backyard. A small child appeared and the man picked him up and hugged him. It made me realize that the people here are ACTUALLY PEOPLE. It makes me feel better about being here. The military really is helping the people of Iraq. I was here back in 2003 and the improvements since then have been enormous. Maybe we started off being here for the wrong reasons, but we are making a difference here. it makes me angry to see people in the States, protesting with signs, hunger strikes, yelling for the troops to come home. Sure, it would be nice to come back to the States, but Iraq is not strong enough yet. If we leave now, what will happen to Iraq's people? What did the 2500+ soldiers die for? As soldiers, we are doing our jobs. We have been trained for this. None of us had a gun put to our heads when we agreed to join the Military. When we came to Iraq, we knew full well that we may not come back alive. I don't know. Those stupid protestors just piss me off, especially the celebrity ones. Just shut up and make movies!

P.S. The "small child" I saw may have been a dog. I'm no expert :)