Damien in Iraq

A Year-Long Journey

This is my second tour in Iraq, and I learned quickly the first time that one of purest forms of catharsis is to write down your thoughts. Some people keep a journal, however, my medium of choice on my last deployment was in the form of daily letters to my wife. It helped a lot to keep me sane, balanced, and grounded through all the craziness. Upon returning home, one of the things that brought me the most joy was to be able to share the experience with others. To be able to tell other people the truth and the reality, both good and bad, of what is really going on out here felt so good. Upon setting out on this year-long journey, I decided, why not combine the two ideas of writing for catharsis, and sharing my experiences.

In a time where I harldy feel as though the media is giving accurate coverage, and quesiton if they ever do, I feel that it is vitally important for us as a people to be as educated as possible on the true history of what will be the defining conflict of my generation, and to some, our lives. Not everyone can be out here, nor would i wish that on them, but when all is said and done, and we relay this story to those whom weren’t yet born or were too young to remember or understand, there needs to be some way for them to know as true an account as possible.

I am not the best writer, and you don’t need to look hard or long to find a more interesting story, but for some this is as close as they will ever get to being on the front lines of history, as it happens.  That being said, there are a host of movies and books out there by now of glory-packed war stories, some greatly embelished and others frighteningly not.  So if that is what you are looking for, you are probably in the wrong place, and would more than likely have better luck at Blockbuster, or Barnes & Noble. I hope to God that my story, as it progresses, is as boring as possible.

My goals for the blog are simple:

1. 1. First of all, I am selfish. This blog is an outlet for me to vent all the daily bs, stress, and pure insanity as i encounter it.
   2. Secondly, i hope to be able to educate or enlighten as many people as possible as to our experiences and what it is like to be out here every day. The true meaning of sacrifice is lost in a time when you don’t even have to walk to your computer anymore to send out an email, much less sit down and write a letter. There is a lot of true sacrifice happening out here every day, and it is happening by a bunch of barely-able-to-vote, often-not-able-to-drink, immature, irresponsible whipper snappers. We love our country, we love our people, and we are still innocent enough to believe in fighting for that. 
   3. Finally, I wanted to do my best to let as many people as possible know as close as possible to what is going on out here. Most specifically, to shine a light on the immense amount of positivity that is out here that you never hear about on the news, and the journey many of us take as we grow into men, and form micro families, 8,000 miles from home.

I hope most of all that you find the blog entertaining, frightening, educational, heartwarming, beautiful, tragic, and enlightening.

Okay… now maybe i am taking myself too seriously…

But I hope you enjoy it all the same.