Just like Iraq...

1) Bella and me.
2) Bella and a smaller version of Old Glory.

3) Bella and Sergio II "Ichiro", (translated: First born son)

4) Bella with our famous West Texas skies behind her.


5) Bella on Easter Sunday. Check out the static hair.

Gulfport, MS Aug & Sep 2007.
It’s hot but it’s the humidity that is eating us up. The humidity never goes away, even at night but the command has training in this crap, geared up, to get us ready for the conditions that we will face in Iraq. Hello? Iraq is dry. There is zero humidity. It is either incredibly hot, or freakin’ hot and in the winter it cools down to just hot but at night it gets incredibly cold. But we went through the training, a bunch of guys got hurt. Ankles, knees, backs etc. Dehydration, heat stress and we weren’t even in country yet. Sept. 11, we land in Kuwait. The door to the plane opens up and it was like trying to breath through my wife’s blow drier on high. Jeez, it was hot and it was close to one in the morning! We walked off of the plan and less than 100 yards later we were covered in sweat. Argh! “Hey Zamora, you’re from Texas. You’re used to this, right?” Fuck no. It does get hot in West Texas but nothing, nothing like it does over there. Four days later we land in Iraq, it’s close to two in the morning and it is even hotter. “Hey Zamora..” Fuck off. The next day we show up at our camp and the guys that we were relieving notice us struggling with the 120-125 degree heat. “You guys should have been here two months ago. We pegged out at 145.” A month later I went out on my first mission, “outside the wire”. We landed in Rawah, Iraq. According to the flight line thermometer, it was a cool 118. Nice. We walked around the camp and onto the side of a small camp to survey our work site. As far as you could see, nothing. Just barren ground. No vegetation at all. “Hey Zamora, this must remind you of home.” Fuck.
Yes, El Paso is in the desert but believe me it is nothing like Iraq. We have trees, bushes and shrubs here. On occasion, our creeks and river beds actually have water running along them. And yes, driving along the outskirts of town I do see something that reminds of my time over there but like Iraq? Come on. Nothing compares to that place especially after Saddam found out we were coming. He uprooted the irrigation systems that he had installed throughout the country. I saw pictures of the place and let me tell you, it was something right out of The Bible Stories. Lush, green, beautiful. But not anymore. That Iraq is long gone. So what in the hell are we still doing over there?