Welcome to a great day in Baghdad. This is after a day of rain. Excellent. So, what is it like in a typical day? I will attempt to summarize my experience, but it really won't do it justice. Business as usual, suddenly a big mission comes up. You have little time. Sleep, which is obviously not the priority, tends to not exist. A few hours, restless I might add, full of thoughts on what you missed or what you need to review in the morning. The morning is a fight to wake up, coupled with a sharp nervousness. Your set, boom (This signifies you starting the actual mission.) . From there is easy. Your in the zone. Nerves are fine. You're talking to people, working plans on the fly, adapting, constantly monitoring the situation; change of mission, you roll to an area you have never seen and master it; change of mission, your jumping from roof to roof; change of mission, your talking to more people, constantly adapting, changing what you do, planning on the fly. You're there, you're focused. You get back. Everyone is quiet on the ride back. Could be exhaustion. You return and sit down. Everything hits, you crash. The pain from that fall when you misjudged the jump, the fact that you should have drank more water, but forgot. Its almost relaxing. Its feels good in a way. A sense of accomplishment. Just a few thoughts. Tomorrow is another day.

Happy New Year