My Sky Color

A forty something Dad, Husband, Engineer guy living in Western Oregon. Reflections on all things in life. A few technical things and whatever else comes along.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Talk with a Soldier
I am in NC for work. I am learning that a lot of the men around here were in the military at some point in there lives. Today I was working with a QA inspector and he mentioned that he had to go "drill" this weekend. He is in the Army Reserves. We got to talking and I was able to ask him questions about when, what and where. He was regular Army for 4 years out of high school then he's been in reserves ever since. This year it will be 20 years total time.

He has been deployed to Iraq two times, once in 1991 and again in 2003. It was interesting talking to him about his experiences. He said that the majority of the people in Iraq are happy that the Americans came and kicked out the dictator. Only a very small part of the population were living the good life and the rest were barely surviving. He emphasized how good we have it in the USA.


Old people in Iraq were walking around with no shoes in the sand. He picked up some sand to see how hot it was and got 1st degree burns. Many of the people now have a chance for their basic needs to be met.

It causes one to reflect seriously on how flippantly we live the good life. We need to be grateful for our prosperity and freedom to have, go, do and say most anything we want. We also need to be thankful for the men and women who are fighting in inhospitiable lands to protect our home land.

The home land will not be safe forever. There are too many that wish to disrupt and kill the priviledges we have. Just be grateful and count your blessings. DMP

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