Friday, December 23, 2005

Christmas in Iraq

In today's Washington Post, columnist David Ignatius, who tilts a bit left but generally exhibits considerably more sense than most of his colleagues, does a smart thing and lets America's soldier-bloggers in Iraq do most of the talking, as in this snippet from Captain B:
Lacking ornaments for the most part, we used bullets, cigars, Marlboro packs and other things we like and hung them on the tree. It looks like a freaking train wreck but it's our train wreck.
Read the rest of this unusual Christmas column here if you want a taste of the real America as told by real American heroes. In fact, as Wonker himself prepares to take a few days off from blogging to rehearse for a series of Christmas Eve Masses before taking a whistle-stop trip back home to Cleveland, he'd like to close this entry with a perfect observation from one of Ignatius' military bloggers that pretty much says it all:
And when the soldiers finally make it home, there is joy -- and also introspection, like that voiced by a blogger who calls himself Where's Your Baghdaddy? and who left Iraq a few weeks ago: "I once read somewhere that, 'going into a combat zone is a one-way door since the person that leaves is not the same person that returns.' This new person returning is committed to being a better husband, father and friend. I have felt the pain of leaving all that I hold dear, and I will not take it for granted again."
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. See you next week.

No comments: