Breaker 1-9 This is Teddy Bear

Ya, just got back from another convoy. Finally had something mildly exciting to do....if you consider driving a gun truck through Iraq mildly exciting. Driving is so much more fun than being on the radio.

I know that I have not updated frequently enough, for some very basic reasons. I have yet to really recover from the events of my R&R; not that I should expect to overnight either. Life here is a desolate and abject experience. If you do your job well, there is less to do. We all do our jobs well here. Couple that lack of purpose with a profound existential emptiness and it is a recipe for stir craziness. But on to the convoy....

One thing I noticed was the number of Iraqis that showed support for us when we drove by, even after all this time of our strong-armed occupation. It is wonderful to see the little children, dressed in bright clothes, running to the edge of the road to wave to us. I wish I had bags of candy, like the parade floats, to toss to these kids.

I wrote previously that 'chicken' is my favorite road game to play. Mind you, I play only when needed. One Iraqi almost bought his ticket though......

We were driving through a lightly populated area which produced light traffic on the roadway. We own the road. We drive where we want, but usually in the middle while the civilians leave the surface to drive on the wide shoulders. We know this, they know this. So, I was driving the 2nd gun truck watching the lead vehicle split the oncoming traffic, when I noticed the gunner waving off a fast approaching car. It always pops into my head that this may finally be the VBIED I have expected. The car continued at the lead truck without slowing. At the last moment the car swerved to barely miss the lead truck. I was far enough back to watch the driver begin to gesticulate wildly and aggressively out the side window. He never cleared the lane and tried maintaining his speed. I perked up. Here was my chance to test this vehicle to see how much will he had to meet Allah that day. He started to come fully into the lane again, the lane that I now occupied, making aggressive gestures. I sped up. He saw me headed directly towards him. He increased his gesticulating and speed. I sped up and aimed. I had a vehicle behind me we were escorting, so if there was to be an attack on the convoy I wanted to take care of it. So I am driving directly at the vehicle now, roughly 65-75 mph, he's accelerating towards me but then thinks better of it when he notices that I am aiming for him. He pulls half off the road again and demonstrates more aggressive behavior. I adjusted my aim. At the very last instant, he cleared the road fully. I never left the surface but came within inches of his car; right behind the driver door to the rear bumper. He then stayed clear of the lane to let the following vehicles pass.

He must not have gotten the memo.