Letter From Iraq

Hi Momma,  

Well, as you can tell, I have been somewhat limited in my ability to communicate at this base. It would be easier to call if we weren't on communications blackout every five seconds and the computers didn't take 500 million years to load an email.

It's been fun. I like going out and doing stuff, and without any electricity I read a lot of books. I am on one team now, but I will probably only be on this team for another week before I transfer to another one down here. Who knows?

Here is a picture of me on duty.

I don't know what to say about our missions. I can't say words that make sense or won't concern you. Everything is a mix of terror and boredom, of hope and apathy.

When an explosion goes off and you realize that you don't even flinch in the slightest, or when gunfire just makes you smoke your cigarette on the other side of the truck--the one with less gunfire--it's then that you realize you are not coming home yourself the way you left. Does that make sense?

It is easier to explain these things separate from me. I'm not traumatized or anything. I'm just saying: if this is normal, then no one here is.

Love you

From a daughter serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq.