"I don't speak Arabic," I replied. "I only know three words. Salaam alekum, yala and shokran." Let's go, thank you and PEACE.
Then the the kids made up a song and we all danced to it. "No money, no chocolate." It was fun. They laughed and I laughed. "Disco!" they cried.
"If they are bothering you, Ma'am, just let me know," said one soldier.
"Nope, no problem," I replied. "I'm used to kids. Not only am I a mother of four and a grandmother, but also used to teach at juvenile hall." But then the glorious thing about teaching at juvie is that if the little darlings don't behave, you can always send them back to their cells.
The only incident that was even remotely worrisome on patrol was when the gunner of my Humvee spotted a gun in someone's hand. But it turned out to be a toy gun.
Most of the soldiers here like being soldiers and are good at it. I read somewhere recently that learning new things every day and continuously having a wide variety of experiences can actually raise one's IQ. And since all the soldiers I've met over here seem to be all pretty smart -- these guys are not even close to being society's dregs -- I can only assume that being in the military will actually raise one's IQ because of all that training and variety of experiences they get. Hmmm. When I get back from Iraq, will I qualify for Mensa? Yeah right.
Anyway, I did talk with one soldier who hated it here. "I just want to be back on my ranch in Colorado." He also talked about how the kids on the street today really pissed him off.
"Hey, it could be worse," I replied. "At least they weren't throwing rocks."
"They used to throw rocks at us."
"Children reflect what their parents think," I reminded him, "and if these children are chatting and laughing with us and not throwing rocks, this is probably the most hopeful indication one can see that the so-called "war" over here is starting to cool down. Finally!" But I refrained from mentioning to him how the US military has been risking its soldiers' lives daily for the past five years to pull GWB's irons out of the fire, because this rancher-soldier already knew where I stood. My "impeachbush.com" truckers hat said it all. Except for the part where Bush goes to jail. But I digress.
Then we all drove back to the COP, ate stew for dinner and gave the dogs another chance to demonstrate that they had stopped being sexists. But the dogs blew their chance.
****
August 8, 2008: Today started out in an extremely interesting way. At 4:30 am, I began screaming in my sleep and then I fell out of bed. I've NEVER rolled off the edge of a bed before, at least not since I was a baby. Maybe I've caught PTSD too?
And I just got an e-mail from my daughter Ashley who works at a gelato shop in north Berkeley. "Dear Mom: Ciao Bella just got in a tub of rice pudding gelato." I spent two years living on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1960s. I know my rice pudding! Will Ciao Bella's measure up to B&H Dairy's? Maybe I should bring my platoon back with me and we could patrol through the streets of the Gourmet Ghetto section of Berkeley and they could give me a mini-grant to go and find out. Hey, American small businesses need mini-grant economic stimulus packages too!
Then the the kids made up a song and we all danced to it. "No money, no chocolate." It was fun. They laughed and I laughed. "Disco!" they cried.
"If they are bothering you, Ma'am, just let me know," said one soldier.
"Nope, no problem," I replied. "I'm used to kids. Not only am I a mother of four and a grandmother, but also used to teach at juvenile hall." But then the glorious thing about teaching at juvie is that if the little darlings don't behave, you can always send them back to their cells.
Most of the soldiers here like being soldiers and are good at it. I read somewhere recently that learning new things every day and continuously having a wide variety of experiences can actually raise one's IQ. And since all the soldiers I've met over here seem to be all pretty smart -- these guys are not even close to being society's dregs -- I can only assume that being in the military will actually raise one's IQ because of all that training and variety of experiences they get. Hmmm. When I get back from Iraq, will I qualify for Mensa? Yeah right.
Anyway, I did talk with one soldier who hated it here. "I just want to be back on my ranch in Colorado." He also talked about how the kids on the street today really pissed him off.
"Hey, it could be worse," I replied. "At least they weren't throwing rocks."
"They used to throw rocks at us."
"Children reflect what their parents think," I reminded him, "and if these children are chatting and laughing with us and not throwing rocks, this is probably the most hopeful indication one can see that the so-called "war" over here is starting to cool down. Finally!" But I refrained from mentioning to him how the US military has been risking its soldiers' lives daily for the past five years to pull GWB's irons out of the fire, because this rancher-soldier already knew where I stood. My "impeachbush.com" truckers hat said it all. Except for the part where Bush goes to jail. But I digress.
Then we all drove back to the COP, ate stew for dinner and gave the dogs another chance to demonstrate that they had stopped being sexists. But the dogs blew their chance.
****
August 8, 2008: Today started out in an extremely interesting way. At 4:30 am, I began screaming in my sleep and then I fell out of bed. I've NEVER rolled off the edge of a bed before, at least not since I was a baby. Maybe I've caught PTSD too?
And I just got an e-mail from my daughter Ashley who works at a gelato shop in north Berkeley. "Dear Mom: Ciao Bella just got in a tub of rice pudding gelato." I spent two years living on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1960s. I know my rice pudding! Will Ciao Bella's measure up to B&H Dairy's? Maybe I should bring my platoon back with me and we could patrol through the streets of the Gourmet Ghetto section of Berkeley and they could give me a mini-grant to go and find out. Hey, American small businesses need mini-grant economic stimulus packages too!
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