The Real Deal

Had a very interesting evening a couple of days ago. We found ourselves careening through narrow alleys at - what felt like - breakneck speeds, with your humble narrator driving. It was pitch dark out, we were running without lights, and navigating with the use of night vision goggles (NVG's). Radio traffic crackled in my ears as I yelled to our gunner to pull down our antennae so that we didn't tear down low slung power lines. Yeah, there was a little bit of adrenalin flowing there. Driving with NVG's is a tricky proposition. You see the world in a Matrix-esque green glow, your field of vision is severely limited, and you have NO depth perception. You need to rely on other members of your team to tell you when you're getting too close to buildings, poles, etc. so there is a lot of communication flying around inside the vehicle, and nerves can get a little raw. At one point we stopped to wait for another patrol to take up a position. I took the opportunity to step out of the vehicle to ... relieve myself. Halfway through, I happen to look up and notice that the vehicles in our convoy parked in front of us were GONE! I looked back at our vehicle and saw frantic gestures coming from within. I couldn't hear a thing because of my headphones. Needless to say, I remounted the vehicle in great haste and we moved out. I didn't even have time to button myself back up!

All this activity was precipitated by a huge truck bomb that destroyed a nearby mosque a couple of days ago; a significant enough event to make the news around the world. It probably even made the crawl at the bottom of the screen on FoxNews while they continue to milk the Anna Nichole Smith "story". The near future is likely to prove very busy indeed.

We're all doing well, and keeping busy. Still, I can safely say that I would much rather be in San Francisco!!