If a lowly Sergeant knows this, Saddam has got to know something to this effect. That's why I think he's not going to come into Saudi. He knows he'll have to pay. Knowing this, I can hear my old man's voice in my head over and over again, prepare for the worst, hope for the best. It took coming half way 'round the world to realize that he's not as dumb as I thought. Go figure! Maybe if I believed him back in the day I'd be sweating my ass off digging graves instead of sweating it off over here.
Tell everyone I said Hi.
Count
***
Shannie, October 28th, 1990
You're a saint and you don't even know it. Beings that were up north, you couldn't imagine how good it feels to see a letter post-marked Beyford, PA. The simple things that remind me of home, if I press my nose against the envelope, I swear I can smell burning leaves. If I close my eyes, I can see the wind blowing them across Fernwood. God how I miss home, especially this time of year, fall was always my favorite. Sometimes late at night I can hear Mr. Ralston's ratty voice announce another first and ten for Beyford's Iron men.
I think it s a fucking laugh to hear that my old man is pitching a shit fit over Schwarzkopf. He really did take a liking to Morrison's nicknaming him Bear. Now Schwarzkopf comes along and steals the old man's thunder, serves that gravedigger right. If he had stuck it out in the army, maybe he'd be the 'other bear's' boss.
Some crazy shit went down a couple of nights back. We had a drive by shooting, makes me wonder if we're in Saudi or L.A. Rumors say it was a bunch of Iraqi terrorists. Others say it's Saudi nationals pissed off by our presence. In a weird way, I kinda hope they were Iraqi's, you know one expects it from those animals. But if it was a bunch of fan belts, fuck them! We should pull out and let them defend themselves. Ungrateful bastards! See how'd they like living under Saddam. Whoever it was, this is the story I got. A truck or two came up on a checkpoint with their lights out. Challenged by MPs, they turned around. Once they got out on Tapline road they got ballsy and allegedly fired off some shots back towards camp. A bunch of patrols went out and helicopters went up, but they disappeared into the night. The next day a bunch of Saudi cops sniffed around. They didn't find anything. That's one thing similar between our cultures, small town cops are about worthless, if they had a 7-11, the Saudi cops would be hanging out sucking down tea and Arabian donuts. Makes you wonder. Where's big Dick Bradigan when you need him?