Preface

This is not a typical wartime memoir. I do not intend to show you so much what life is like as a Marine in Iraq, to recount the missions that we did or the terrible men that we captured, nor what else you might expect from a book written in wartime by an enlisted Marine. But though you will read some of this so that you might better understand my experience and how I have changed, as long as war exists, someone else will be able to tell you what it is like fighting in the trenches, or in the jungle, or in the streets of some mid-eastern city. Neither is it fair to those who have seen and done so much more than I if I speak as a warrior; Iwo Jima, Normandy, and Fallujah come to mind. I only want to show you what I have learned, to show the goodness of the human creature, and to paint a picture of my friends in Iraq.

Because of my experiences I have begun to seen the world through a different lens, through truly human eyes. I want you to see what I have seen, and hopefully as I have seen it. I will only speak here of my experiences, what I have observed, what I have been moved by, and what I have come to know in my short years.

Included in this volume are many short stories and a few essays. Sometimes I will let the story speak for itself, and at other times I will interject to share my thoughts. I will do my best to be completely honest and forthcoming in this work.

Herein are contained some of the events that have lead to my philosophy and my outlook. I begin with an essay about humanity from which you may read the following stories. The core of this work is this: to show the intrinsic value of each human creature and of humanity as a whole.