![]() The reality was and is that labels like "soldier" and "enemy" and "foreign national" do little to assuage the inherent and complicated humanity that we all bring with us and share between us. That was years ago and so much happened over there, but I will always remember that moment because it was an instance of unconditional and timeless humanity during wartime. My wife and I had been chasing healthy and happy, mischievous boys for years and if I was hyper vigilant for bad guys, I was even more sensitive to children getting loose.Īs natural as if I were on the sidewalk in Middle Tennessee, I reached down and caught him, said something incomprehensible to him like “whoa little man, don’t loose momma” and I smiled at his mother and she smiled at me and then in that moment, I was not an armed soldier occupying her city and we spoke the same language and we were neighbors keeping a little boy out of the street. I am a father of three boys and at that time they were 16, 13 and 6 and I thought about them everyday if not hourly. I noticed her looking at some goods and he saw something across the street and like little boys the world over, took off past me and headed into the street. A mother was walking with her little boy, he looked about 2 or 3, with a cute brown outfit that was tailored to fit him, perhaps homemade. Huge bags of nuts and seeds, fabric, plastic toys, a little bit of everything. I was on the sidewalk and looking at the goods on display. But for the most part, it was a quiet day and people were out shopping and enjoying the day. It was the kind of day where in the back of our mind we were maybe more vigilant than necessary because the threat of anything bad seemed so far away – so therefore we needed to be more on the guard. No kidding, fair skin like me and RED hair. Many people don’t know this but a percentage of Kurdish folks are red headed. I came to love the Kurdish people, they were hardworking and resilient. We were in the Kurdish part of the city and it was a beautiful day in the bazaar. I had my full “battle rattle” on: helmet, body armor, vest with extra magazines, M4. It was the kind of day where in the back It was in the spring of 2006 and I was on patrol in Kirkuk Iraq with a unit in the 101st Airborne. ![]() It was in the spring of 2006 and I was on patrol in Kirkuk Iraq with a unit in the 101st Airborne.
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