Chapter+21

My Story in Iraq

By:Juan Cervantes

I have been in Iraq for over a year now. I am a soldier in the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment. The first day I got here was on March 26. Me and my buddies landed in a field in Bashur, in Northern Iraq. When we landed, it was very wet and really cold. The first weeks in Bashur must have been my worst days ever, besides getting shot at. After those few weeks we were ordered to go to Kirkuk.

Kirkuk is a very beautiful city. The people and the children welcomed us when we got there. My buddy said to me that we were going to live with some of the townspeople and get to know them and their neighbors. I guess that is a good thing, considering that we have no other choice. Just kidding. Our first mission was to help the government built an Iraqi police force. They say that if we do train Iraqis, then we can go home sooner that expected. So we do the best we can and teach them all we can.

In late June, we got new orders to go to Baghdad to help out. So me and my battalion went on the Jumbo Planes. When we were getting near, I could hear gunshots from the distance. Next thing I know we are getting shot at. I look to my left and I could not believe what I saw. I will never forget that moment. One of my best friends Nick Zumiez got shot in the head. When we landed the medics came and took him \. He was pronounced dead at 11:45am. I was so sad that I broke down into tears. I was going through his pictures and I found one with his wife and him. His wife had brown eyes, short, white skinned and blond hair. He had a suit, green eyes, black hair and tan colored skin. The next day we went out on a patrol looking for homemade bombs on the side of the road. I am actually impressed with these Iraqis. They actually know how to make bombs. Anyways we ended up not finding anything and we went back to the base.

The next couple of weeks were going to be my last because I am going home to my beautiful wife and my 5 year old son and my 1 year old daughter. I am actually glad to go home because I am tired of getting shot ant and seeing all of my best friends die. At the same time I don’t want to go because some of the people here are very nice to me and I got use to waking up really early to do drills. But my family is more important than the war. Besides I miss my family a lot and when I get home I am going to take my whole family to Las Vegas, Miami, and anywhere else they want to go. I am going to take my wife to a romantic place like Paris or London and spend a couple of months there. -

Work Cited

David Deaconson, "Fruits of soldiers' efforts are visible in Kirkuk" September 21, 2003 http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Letters_home