After being away from home for over a year, I began my journey home today. I only got about 10 miles down the road, from the center of Baghdad in the IZ out to Liberty Base where the airport is. Tomorrow we fly out for Kuwait and I say goodbye to Baghdad.
Tonight my troops are sleeping in tents, living out of their ruck sacks, and eating MRE's, but that is ok. It is the price to be paid for going home.
This afternoon as we were signing in for our tents we were notified there is a 'Stars for Stripes' (USO) show tonight. When 8 p.m. rolled around we went to their tents to round the troops ufup for the show, but most of them were sound asleep - tough day. So in the end just me and two of my buddies went.
We were right at the stage throughout the entire show. The lead act was the country group Lonestar. I must say they put on one hell of a show. It is cold tonight and you could tell they were noticably freezing, but they kept on playing. The sets they played were a mix of their hits followed at the end of the show by some serious jamming of classic rock.
I have to admit, I almost didn't go. I have never been much of a Lonestar fan. And I have noticed through life that many stars I thought I liked, but when I met them they just didn't measure up. This was just the opposite case with this group. They were a bunch of really nice guys. The were humble, polite, and genuinely friendly before, during and after the show. There was not doubt they were southern with their conversation filled with lots of "y'alls".
The lead singer stopped in the middle of one of his songs when he made a mistake, looked out at the audience and said, "This is making me really nervous. I have never played in a place where every person in the audience has a gun. If we suck, you guys might shoot us."
This was a great way to finish our time here in Iraq - jamming to some good tunes, freezing to death in the desert, helicopters flying overhead, smoke and dust filling the air, and the sounds of gunfire all around the city. You rock Baghdad!
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I saw them in September at the North GA fair (Brad's dad runs the security there for the sheriffs office) and we were right up front too. They do a great show and the rock part at the end was the best!!!
The lead singer is new to the group and he was talking about his upcoming trip over there. He got very emotional about the opportunity to play for the troops... who would have know you would be one of them! Crazy! They did a great set for at the fair for the military and of course, like the baby I am, I cried all the whole time.
Glad you enjoyed yourself!
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