n the morning during setup, 2 guys in full utilities and boots wandered by the site, and Robi asked them if they planned to run with us. They didn’t know anything about it. They were 2 soldiers just back from 2 weeks leave headed back to their post later in the day. Their post was in Sadr City. Christian and Zach told us earlier how Sadar City was a particularly dangerous area, and the US agreed that if the trouble from Sadar City stayed out of Baghdad, the US would stay out of Sadr City. They also told us that one time, when transporting to a base in Baghdad, that their MRAP convoy had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Sadr City at which point they heard bullets pinging off the armoured exterior of the vehicle, so when they said they were based there, we immediately knew it was not a nice place to be. Later when we all showed up to finish setup, Robi told us about the boys, and how they planned to run in their uniform. I went over to talk to them, and they were great! One from Chicago, one from NY. Nice guys. Young. They couldn’t have been over 25 years old. They told me how since they June 30th pull out, there had been an escalation in violence. Our agreement with the Iraqi people was that there needed to be equal Iraqi Army soldiers to American soldiers patrolling the city if Americans would be patrolling. That conflicted with the Iraqi law that if Iraqi soldiers were seen patrolling with American soldiers (just in Sadr City? I’m not sure) they would immediately be arrested, so no Iraqi soldiers or police would patrol in Sadr City with them, leaving them to patrol the perimeter alone, and leaving the danger to increase in the city. They also talked about an increase in injuries, in fact, their commanding officer had just been involved in an IED attack and had lost both of his legs. They were very clearly frustrated, very angry, and saddened. They didn’t see a solution or the possibility for improvement and were clearly very frustrated by it., but most of all, you could see that they were scared, and not particularly excited about going back, other than to be with their unit and back up their buddies. They had 8 hour foot patrols in 120 degree heat and 65lbs of gear to look forward to, and an uncomfortable 1 hour “commute” on either end of that patrol from the base to the site. This is the kind of constant anxiety that some of our brave American troops live under, and the kind that leads to difficulty adapting back to “normal” life. These boys were clearly being affected by the stress, which makes tours like ours, and the concerts that Catch Penny does for the small FOBs so vitally important. Even to have 30 minutes where they can think about something else, forget that they could be shot at or blown up at any moment, and to know that someone came out to see them and entertain them and care about them. That’s really really important!
My heart went out to these guys when they told us how much it meant to them for us to be there. They said they often felt alone out there, and like no one was thinking about them. This was heart wrenching, and I assured them that they were in all of our thoughts and prayers, but I think just being there was the best thing we could do at that point.
So they ran a hot 2 miles in full uniform. The kid from Chicago placed in the top 10! He really cranked! I met up with them after and congratulated them. Sandy gave them each a signed NASA poster and they marveled at them. They both had always been fascinated with space and were thrilled to have met and talked to Sandy, and to have gotten her autograph. They even asked for one for their recently injured commander. They were very touched by this gesture. I also awarded them the Under Armour undeniable t-shirt s that I’d been giving out after the races. A signed Devon Hester t-shirt, and the young man from Chicago was thrilled. We poured the love and attention on them as we were all close to tears at their situation. It was a stark departure from the comfort and (relative) safety of Al Asad (i.e. Camp Cupcake) and an important reminder that we were in a war zone, and our brave American soldiers are in danger, and we need to support them, and love them and appreciate their situation.
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