Note from the desk of the opinion editors:
It is easy for us to forget the sacrifices American soldiers serving abroad make to represent our country. In a charged partisan climate in which the actions of civilian commanders are scrutinized and used as fodder in mudslinging campaigns, we can overlook the thousands of ordinary Americans making us proud in extraordinary conditions.
This is the seventh part of a series that will appear every Monday this semester where we will publish the journal of Liz O'Herrin, a UW student who kept record of her experiences in Iraq and has decided to share them with the readers of The Badger Herald. We present this journal in hopes that you can gain insight to a small piece of the Iraq experience for American servicemen and women.
JUNE 7
It's 81 outside this morning and we're all freezing our asses off. Lovely!
I've been helping a couple of guys acquire the resources for screening in our "front porch" in the bomb dump. We took huge panels of wood to the self help area, where we were going to saw them into two-by-fours. Now, this wood paneling was bigger than I was, but I could carry it. Barely, but I could. A lot of the Iraqi contracters come to the self-help area to get tools before they disperse on base, working on various construction projects. They have armed guards who go wherever they go. They are not used to seeing women in uniform. I struggle past them with my big stupid board and one comes running up to me, hollering at me in Arabic. He freaks me out but I realize he's just trying to help me. I insist that I'm fine, my voice raising to match his, until we are both shouting at each other as I am struggling with my board. Eventually he just grabs the other end of the board. OK, OK, fine. Help me. Then two more Iraqis come running up, also hollering at me.
The Army guards, at this point, are quite amused at my expense. The Iraqis grab the board from me, and I stand there helplessly as they run away from me with my board. Wait, they are going the wrong way. They throw my board into their truck and laugh! Now the Army guys really think this is funny, and I stand there dumbfounded, not quite sure what to do about this situation. I feel like a dumb girl, and I'm pissed that my board got stolen right out of my hands. I half-heartedly demand to get my board back. My guys come back to find me standing there without my board. They razz me about it and then walk over and re-acquire it in a few moments, as any manly man would do in this ridiculous situation.
JUNE 8
Al-Zarqawi is dead. Crazy. We got a classified briefing before it broke on the news, it was pretty crazy hearing jumbled news reports and actually knowing what happened. Front page of The New York Times, CNN headlines, etc. Granted, I doubt it will affect the grand scheme of things much, but it still feels weird to be a part of history. At first they said a Hellfire missile did it. Oh, hell no. Air Force credit straight to the Army! That wasn't a Hellfire, we all shouted at the television screen.
It's weird to know that the U.S.'s top wanted man was close to where I am. In a palm grove, just like the ones I see everyday. As soon as the TV switched from the actual incident to the political pundit bickering, everyone tossed their hands into the air in disgust. Back to work. Let the bastards duke it out, we have work to do.
JUNE 9
Today I got in a heated discussion about what makes toothpaste sweet. We are constantly told not to brush our teeth in our pods and spit out our front door, because it attracts bugs and mice who in turn attract snakes. So when one of the airman started spitting his toothpaste all over front porch after he woke up late, I scolded him and told him to go find a water bottle. Naturally we got into a scuffle about why spitting all over the porch was a bad thing, and I said it was because there was sugar in toothpaste. Ok, so I didn't really think it through, but come on, how else could toothpaste be sweetened? Anyways, does it really even matter, because the net effect is the same–It if it tastes sweet to us, won't the bugs think it's sweet too?
AskJeeves.com put the debate to rest fairly quickly, and put me to shame even quicker. Apparently it's some weird nonsugar sweetener. Who knew. Just as I was starting to prove myself to be a young female staff sergeant. Great.