Big Baby Jesus's blog: "An insider's perspective"

So maybe the last one was a bit too political to wet the appetites of your average person. I understand, I also sometimes find it hard to be able to separate normal conversation from what I'm used to here. So here's a look into living conditions here.... First and foremost there are rules governing everything, EVERYTHING! No alcohol, no porn, no gambling, no sex, no "war trophies" (which covers just about any trinket you may want to bring home), wear eye pro at all time (sunglasses), no running with a battle buddy, and the list goes on. I live in an area about 10x4 and in that area I have all my clothes, all my entertainment, my work area, my gear (bulletproof vest, ammo, weapon, night vision gear, 240B (machine gun), and misc other issued gear), and my bed. Cramped huh? My area is considered roomy. If you thought your college dorm was bad imagine sharing a normal sized room with three other guys. One of which is an Iraqi (which equates to unpleasant and exotic smells) who works for us as a translator. All this, plus 12-16 hour workdays, including 6-10 hr missions means tensions are high in the room. But that is my insight for you into living conditions in Iraq. Oh and it's not always hot in Iraq, in fact it's balls cold outside today and windy and rainy. Big Baby Jesus out

So many people don't get to see what I see every day. I do go out on missions on average 5 times a week and so yes I do get to see the city and the people. It aggravates me to see the newspapers, the newsreels, and the headlines on the web. Always it is this many soldiers died, this many explosions occurred, this war will last this long. Someone tell these men and women to shut up. I've been here for a few months now. When I go out, my mission is to repair the lives of these people to better than it has ever been. So far, we've given these people electricity to their homes, running clean water, government infrastructure, security, schools for their children, and medical facilities for all. These things are not going to go away when the troops do but for now there is still a great deal of work to be done all over this country in order to give these people a good life when we do leave. The progress we have made in just under 5 years has been remarkable. Imagine trying to rebuild NYC after a war, or imagine if the US was a new country today and we had to build ourselves up to the level of other powers in the world. It would take time, hard work, and some due diligence. These people are grateful for us to be here. It’s the same as the Germans and the Japanese. Even today, those that were alive during the occupation after WWII thank American soldiers stationed in those countries. Iraq too will be that way, in time, with a lot of hard work and a lot of due diligence. I’ll rant some more later. Big Baby Jesus out