Iraq

I've finally arrived in Iraq. I got here at 4:30 this morning. It was quite a trip. I flew from Kuwait to Qatar to Balad on a C130. Not the most comfortable plane but after a few years in the military I've come to expect that comfort, or lack thereof, simply comes with the territory. It's pretty funny what I've become accustomed to after living like a nomad for a few weeks. I realized the other day that I haven't flushed a toilet in over two weeks. Think about it. What that means is for over two weeks I haven't had a nice, relaxing....well, you know. I've only used porto potties that are shared by thousands of soldiers. Gross. Beyond gross. But funny nonetheless. Too candid? My sincere apologies but I did tell you I would share the good and the bad about this deployment and now I guess I've ventured into toilet humor (yes, pun absolutely intended). Hey, it's no treat for me either. When I finally flushed today, I started to laugh. Perhaps the humor doesn't transfer very well here but to me, it's funny.

Thankfully, I'm moving on. I've met up with my team in Balad which consists of 8 soldiers from a reserve unit in California. The other 13 are in Baghdad at Camp Victory. I've worked with most of them before so it was nice to finally see some recognizable faces! After three weeks of traveling solo and having inner conversations, I really freaked myself out a few days ago when I actually verbalized part of my conversation! The trip to Balad couldn't come fast enough.

Luckily, they are giving me a few days to get comfortable and finish all of the administration stuff before I hit the ground running. It was VERY nice to have mail here waiting on me when I get here so THANK YOU Mom and Chuck, Gail, Mike and Jen, Mom Mom, Whitney, and Judy!!! It was like Christmas!! The only real negative thing so far is my BlackBerry doesn't work here like it did in Kuwait so I started to panic when I got here and realized there is no commercial cell phone use. I had no way to let Greg know I arrived, and arrived safely. It really bummed me out (see picture below). Greg calls that my Sad Fish Face. I admit it, I was sad. I really wanted to talk to him and I was feeling alone and helpless. But I'm fine now and before that, I was staying positive during my trip (see smiling picture below). Besides, I do have access to the Internet and the mail definitely cheered me up (see other smiling pic)! Enjoy the pics and I'll be in touch soon!

PS...if you want to email me you can at addiecollins@gmail.com!

Oh, and my name tag still says Collins because it takes a lot of paperwork to officially change your name in the Army....I start that tomorrow to become SSG ZINONE!! Yay!!