Flashback Friday - Mother's Day Edition

Son Brendan served for 4 years in the Army (2005-2009) and had two tours in Iraq.  He doesn't talk about it much.  He saw things he'd rather forget, and so we don't ask too many questions.  He signed up for a lot of volunteer missions in the caravans that supplied the various outposts.  He came under fire several times, and his convoys didn't always survive the occasional barrages from the hostiles.  I won't detail here what I have heard, suffice to say, he keeps a lot of it to himself.  There is a VA hospital here that takes good care of him and his roomie, Robert, who was also in the same company of Screaming Eagles.   

Here are some pictures he took after me pleading for some.  So what does this have to do with Mother's Day?  Well, you'll see.

The next six pictures are from a convoy run he made.  It shows the desolation of the area and buildings. 

Convoy pics.

He also worked a security detail in some remote outpost, I have forgotten the name.  Here Brendan is at his post.  Must have been long hours.  I remember him talking about a car that broke through the perimeter.  I think it gave them all a bit of a scare.

Brendan liked the Iraqis he knew and worked at the base with him.  He said they were hard workers and, by and large, were supporting the Allied effort. 

Brendan told me a long, involved funny-as-all-get-out story of nature calls over there.  I can't do it justice here so I'll simply condense it and you can use your imagination.  I have heard three or four truly uproarious stories in my time, one being a joke I still kind of remember Bro Phil telling.  That one involves a long buildup and a hilarious religious?Easter punchline that Phil delivers like a pro.  And then this one by Brendan regarding the above port-a-potties. 

Simply put Brendan's favorite part of his day was the time he got to spend in one of these outdoor toilets.  They were steaming hot, baked by the hot desert sun all day, smelled like the most rancid, foul thing ever produced, and covered by all manner of flies and creepy crawlies.  But Brendan loved it.  It was the only place to be away from people, to be private, to be alone.  He would take his book or magazine in with him and much like someone spending time at the library, I suppose.  In quiet and wonderfully alone repose.  He imbued the story with great humor.  Wish I could have taped it.  You'll just have to take it on faith that it is a unique and funny riff on the pleasures of nature and port-a-potties.

And finally,  the crux of the post.  Someone in camp wrote this simple message to his or her mother.  Like most camps there are hundreds of soldiers and I don't suppose Brendan ever knew who scribbled this message in the god forsaken sands of Iraq.  But like all the hundreds of soldiers, this one kind of summed it up, and so, for all the soldiers yet fighting in distant lands, in a war nobody pays much attention to, here's to the Moms. 

Happy Mother's Day.