The Brigade Newspaper // August 14, 2005

Drum roll please….
Ladies and Gentlemen – its time for….. The Top Five Things I Love About Camp Striker!!!!
5. The Portajon – the ultimate in personal space! You can be in any mood and go there for some quiet time, all to yourself. Unless of course, they are being cleaned in which case you will get sprayed by the power washer. They also double as a free sauna in the afternoon. Just think how much you’d have to pay for this in the States!!!
4. The Dusty Dawn – Where else could you go and see the dawn so…well…orange? I mean, it DOES cool everything down. Shoot, the other day, it was almost 90. You can’t beat that with a stick! Gives everything that, “no one has been here for like three years look,” over night!
3. The ice point – its that Mecca of all things. When you are feeling bad, just go to the ice point. All will be well. Very soon, your hot, parched tongue will enjoy the pleasures of cold Gatorade out of the cooler. Yes, be calm, get ice, All is well.
2. Early Morning “Controlled Detonations” – just the thing to tell you your alive!! There are mornings when I am not sure, I just walk outside my tent and wonder if I am still dreaming and perhaps if I pinch myself I’ll wake up in Georgia and all this will turn into some bad potatoes I ate last night. Then there is this BOOM, and then another, BOOM and suddenly, I am grabbing my Kevlar and IBA and running for the nearest bunker. Now that, is the best part of waking up!!!
(Drum Roll Concludes with that big, brassy music)
Number One!!! The number one thing about Iraq that I like is that little fan that blows on you right when you walk into the right chow hall room. You come in from wherever you are coming from, your hot and sweaty, you have DFAC toilet paper hand-dryer stuff sticking to you and that little fan blows cold air right on your face. Its positively divine!!!

Relax. Iraq is not that bad. You’ll make it – really, you will!! Hey, here’s what you have to do – find the things that bug you and realize – you are better than these things! Its just heat, its not personal!! Take it all with a grain of salt and tongue in cheek! It’ll all work out. Remember, the Bible tells us, “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.” You are the one who will make your time in Iraq the worst time of your life or the greatest growing experience you have ever known.
God loves ya, I love ya and I look forward to seeing you in chapel!!!
Blessings to you all in Christ!!!