Mosul; a soldier's thoughts

Sorry I didn't post something on this sooner. This says it all;

Words cannot express my emotions regarding the attack in Mosul today. They hit us at a very vulnerable moment. I remember thinking awhile back that it’s so weird to think that a person is so vulnerable when they eat. They are cutting food, drinking milk, talking to one another. Just going about their day. Yet the act of eating just seems so peaceful in a way. So when I heard that there was a mortar round that hit that chow tent, it really bothered me. I am typically stone faced to certain things but this just threw me off completely.I have been holding back tears all day because my emotions are all over the place. I am sad now. I have been able to sit down and collect my thoughts and now my mind is just filled with sad thoughts. Knowing that so many lives have been affected. Knowing that my brothers & sisters in arms were killed while eating. They weren’t in battle, they weren’t in training. They were just enjoying some of the things that seem like home to them. There is just something about eating with your friends that makes people feel ok.*pause*So sometimes I just write as I think. Right now is one of those moments. Really I don’t care if it doesn’t make sense sometimes. I sit here writing with tears building in my eyes. The screen is blurry because my emotions are at my eyelids. Some things just don’t seem fair. Yeah I know life isn’t fair. Some would say we don’t belong there anymore. Bring us home! Understand this, with every generation there have been things worth fighting for. We have lost our loved ones in the past to great causes. Our roots bare the fruits of freedom. We are there to give peace to people who have not truly seen it for decades. We are there to allow people to not live under a dictator who kills his own people. A person who did nothing but instill fear amongst his own people.I am confident that we will not turn our backs on them. We will not pull out like we did in Vietnam. We will stay the course. There is going to be many more lives lost. I could be one of them. However I will stare fear in the eyes and do what it takes to help bring a country together. Even if my part is miniscule compared to the big picture. So children who have yet to be born in Iraq can experience freedom like I did as a child. To allow a child to develop emotions freely and not be oppressed by anyone. Maybe they child who grows up free and with values will someday make a difference in someones life. Without that freedom and without some sense of value, that child may just grow up to confused and misguided. Instead of making good, he or she does harm.*deep swallow*To let a child in Iraq, yet to be born, experience life without tyranny. I am sad because more US Soldiers died to allow that possibility to happen. I just hope in the end that I am right in my thought. I hope it was worth all the sacrifice. I hope by going there, that I will be able to take home a sense of accomplishment in my heart. My mind may take years to heal but my heart will know that I gave another his or her freedom and independence.Bless those familys who lost their loved ones on 12/21/04. I am sorry.

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