15 September 2005
Kids (Part 1)
One of the first missions I went on “outside of the wire” was a relatively short mission (approximately 8-9 hours in duration). We were escorting 30 contractor vehicles to a destination in Southern Iraq. On our way there, we went through both populated and desolate areas. In the populated areas, unlike in Kuwait, the people were generally poor. We were inundated with kids waving. I’m sure most of them were just seeking some sort of treat or goodie—not quite to the scope of an American parade mind you, but nonetheless there were a lot of kids waving.
After leaving these populated areas, we entered these long stretches of desert. On one of these long stretches, one of the vehicles in our convoy had a flat tire. Since at the time we were in a rather remote section and no apparent threat was present, we decided to wait for the vehicle driver to replace his flat. Then, virtually out of nowhere, small groups (2-3 each) of kids popped up. Kind of like gophers. I have no idea where they came from. But within twenty minutes, there were probably 25 kids ranging in age from about 3 to 10 around our vehicles and the vehicles we were escorting.
Iraqi kids present difficult challenges to our soldiers. Most people have heard of how, dating back to the early days of the war, some ruthless, immoral AIF strapped bombs to children in an effort to kill American soldiers when the soldiers approached the kids. Just as bad, on more than one occasion, suicide bombers drove vehicles into crowds of children that surrounded GIs. But more than 99% of interactions with Iraqi children are just like any other encounter with children.
In preparing to come over here, one interesting fact that I learned was that the average age of an Iraqi citizen is 19 years old. 19. Compare that to the United States where the average age is 36 (almost twice that of Iraq). This presents a real opportunity “to shape the hearts and minds” of this up-coming generation.
Any way, I digress.
When the kids approached us on that long stretch of desert road, we first cautiously checked them out. After everything seemed OK, we started to interact with them. One thing that the Iraqi kids really like and that make them smile a lot are pens. Any type of pen--ball point, felt tip, permanant marker, etc. Some of the soldiers gave them a few pens and some bottled water. While the soldiers were attempting to talk with the kids, I was mainly focused on directing some of the sparse traffic and ensuring no one else approached our halted convoy. Just prior to our departure, a 6 or 7 year old boy came up to me with a big smile on his face. We exchanged Iraqi greetings and he started to ask me something. I only know a few words/sentences in Arabic so I didn’t know what he was asking. He pointed to my hand (which was holding my weapon slinged in front of me). I didn’t know what he wanted. I held my hand out with my palm facing slightly upward. He took my hand and started drawing something. I had no idea what he was drawing at the time, but I was very curious.
After about 30 seconds of drawing, the boy stepped back smiling at me and waving. I then looked down at my hand to see what he had drawn. It was a smiley face with a smile that was as big as his. He then walked off with his siblings and friends waving as we loaded back onto our vehicles and headed off to our destination.
After leaving these populated areas, we entered these long stretches of desert. On one of these long stretches, one of the vehicles in our convoy had a flat tire. Since at the time we were in a rather remote section and no apparent threat was present, we decided to wait for the vehicle driver to replace his flat. Then, virtually out of nowhere, small groups (2-3 each) of kids popped up. Kind of like gophers. I have no idea where they came from. But within twenty minutes, there were probably 25 kids ranging in age from about 3 to 10 around our vehicles and the vehicles we were escorting.
Iraqi kids present difficult challenges to our soldiers. Most people have heard of how, dating back to the early days of the war, some ruthless, immoral AIF strapped bombs to children in an effort to kill American soldiers when the soldiers approached the kids. Just as bad, on more than one occasion, suicide bombers drove vehicles into crowds of children that surrounded GIs. But more than 99% of interactions with Iraqi children are just like any other encounter with children.
In preparing to come over here, one interesting fact that I learned was that the average age of an Iraqi citizen is 19 years old. 19. Compare that to the United States where the average age is 36 (almost twice that of Iraq). This presents a real opportunity “to shape the hearts and minds” of this up-coming generation.
Any way, I digress.
When the kids approached us on that long stretch of desert road, we first cautiously checked them out. After everything seemed OK, we started to interact with them. One thing that the Iraqi kids really like and that make them smile a lot are pens. Any type of pen--ball point, felt tip, permanant marker, etc. Some of the soldiers gave them a few pens and some bottled water. While the soldiers were attempting to talk with the kids, I was mainly focused on directing some of the sparse traffic and ensuring no one else approached our halted convoy. Just prior to our departure, a 6 or 7 year old boy came up to me with a big smile on his face. We exchanged Iraqi greetings and he started to ask me something. I only know a few words/sentences in Arabic so I didn’t know what he was asking. He pointed to my hand (which was holding my weapon slinged in front of me). I didn’t know what he wanted. I held my hand out with my palm facing slightly upward. He took my hand and started drawing something. I had no idea what he was drawing at the time, but I was very curious.
After about 30 seconds of drawing, the boy stepped back smiling at me and waving. I then looked down at my hand to see what he had drawn. It was a smiley face with a smile that was as big as his. He then walked off with his siblings and friends waving as we loaded back onto our vehicles and headed off to our destination.
# posted by themobilized : 01:29
