With only a few days left to go before my unit leaves Iraq, it’s time to list the 10 things I will miss about being here.

Friends - I’ve made friends in the unit, and I’ve also become friends with some of our Iraqi translators and groundskeeping crew. I will truly miss some of these people [...]

The heat - It was 150 degrees one day this summer. Our air conditioners managed to keep it at 85 inside our trailers when they worked. We had our unit replaced six times while I was here.
European toilets and plumbing - Waste removal systems aren’t what we take for granted in the U.S. Here in [...]

Our deployment is winding down. Our replacement unit will be here soon, and we are getting very busy trying to make all the necessary preparations. The missions don’t slow down just because we have to pack and ship all our gear home.
I think that our unit is tired. While many of us have grown more [...]

I’ve been trying to get promoted since February. The process for a Georgia National Guardsman to be promoted is convoluted to say the least.
In our unit, the lynchpin to my achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant is one knowledgeable individual I work with who knows the paperwork involved and which people to lean on to [...]

The city of Baghdad emits many noises which, while they have become famialiar to my ears, are still alien and sometimes unwelcoming.
Smalls arm fire can be heard multiple times daily. I now know when the cracking noises are warning shots, when they are gun battles and when they are coming from one of the many [...]