COLUMN: Somehow, peace can be found among uncertainty
Dear Family and Friends,
The Iraqi translators that work with the Army here in Ba’qubah are trying to make a Muslim out of me. They give me reading material and explain the doctrines. They say I’m a good man and since I believe in God and pay alms and fast and pray daily (four of the five Pillars of Islam, the fifth being a trip to Mecca) and don’t use alcohol, I’m practically Muslim already. Of course my beliefs in a God whom I resemble and that he has a son who saved me, and scriptures other than the Koran, and modern prophets beside Muhammad disqualify me from any chance in being a Muslim. Oh well, I am flattered they think enough of me to try.
Every day I go downstairs, I am assaulted by the workers with cries of “Keeley, when football (soccer)?” Sometimes I’ll just take a ball down and kick around a few minutes and sometimes I’ll organize a game. We played five-on-five with substitutes the other day and even had a good cheering section. Despite a bumpy, ditch-crossed piece of dirt to play on, everyone had a good time. After the game ended and the dust settled the score was 7-7. Iraqi males love soccer and follow European and Latin teams and players and even think Iraq could beat America in a match. (It’s no use arguing.)
My team (not soccer) was out in the countryside trying to locate a house. We drove civilian SUVs, not Humvees, so we didn’t stand out. I was in the lead vehicle as the radio operator. We came upon a slowly moving car with something straight and long sticking out the window. I remarked to the Captain driving my vehicle, “I hope that’s a shovel poking out the window.” It wasn’t. It was a rifle barrel. We were now passing the car, which hadn’t noticed us as American soldiers. I radioed the second vehicle, echoing the captain’s excited words, “Rifle! Right!” The car with the rifle had stopped and our second vehicle stopped alongside. The four soldiers poured out with weapons raised (one is an undercover cop so he took control). My vehicle came back to pull outward security. We found out that it was just three guys with an air rifle out hunting birds. We searched the car, returned the rifle, and had a relieved chuckle.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, an Iraqi gardener found a live grenade in the garden a few meters from the front of the building I live in. I don’t know why it hadn’t gone off or when it was thrown – I used to escape the heat and sleep in the airconditioned room right by where it was found when I first came here (maybe the angels had a hand in it not going off). Everyone was kept away and the engineers came and did a controlled explosion to destroy it.
It’s interesting how the mind adjusts to the stress of the daily danger – roadside ambushes and bombs make any convoy away dangerous – mortar, grenade or sniper attacks make every day at the office or evening in the building risky as well. (Praise be to God I haven’t experienced any personally!) There’s always a constant threat and a stress that lurks in the shadows of the mind. It can’t be dismissed because, as the news reports and rising death count attest, it is a real threat. Like hands made callous in daily work I think the mind or emotions become used to the stress, and soon it feels normal. For example, when I first arrived in Ba’qubah I would start at every burst of nightly gunshot. Now it barely registers in the consciousness (unless it’s very close).
There are escapes though. I’ve been to a concert of theirs, a great band Collective Soul, a rock band, came and gave an acoustic, outdoor concert for the soldiers at the airfield in Ba’qubah. The nearly full moon flirted with Mars in the Eastern sky while a soft breeze carried laughter, applause and music into the darkness. It was almost like I was at a Summerfest concert in Logan (except I was sitting on an uncomfortable helmet, wearing sweaty Army boots and had to leave after four songs to get back to a briefing).
God – help me through another day …
Take care,
Chris
Christopher Keeley is a graduate student at USU and was working as a staff assistant in extension conference services when he was called to active duty. He is from Hyrum, Utah, and is a member of the Utah National Guard specializing in counterintelligence and is a Korean linguist.