Nothing Happened.

March 7th was Election Day in Iraq. And that's a pretty big deal, I guess. You know, if you're into all the politics about this country and why we're fighting a war here. I know it's ignorant, but I really try to keep my nose out of all that mess and stick to the soldiering. I don't like uneducated hate, however, uneducated indifference suits me well.

According to the news, violence erupted while Iraq voted. Well, I had a front row seat to the whole thing, and let me tell you, it was nothing like the media made it out to be. First off, the death toll is 38. 38 non-Americans. No Soldiers. No contractors. I dare ask, what modern country has ever had a revolution with no blood shed? 38 isn't a bad death toll if you think about the recklessness and disparity of the citizens here.

I got up at 4am to go out on this elections mission. We were anticipating a of violence. Our mission was to go to 2 of the 4 polling sites in Baghdad and check it out. Well, nothing happened. We heard some explosions out in the distance, but nothing close by. No gunfire. No VBIEDs. No IEDs. Hell, not even a dude with his hands in his pockets! We came back to base to grab some lunch chow and headed back out, this time looking for trouble. We cruised around for 3 hours all over the Baghdad area waiting for someone to blow us up or to get into a fire fight with us and nothing happened. I think all the Soldiers were hoping for something big to go off. We were pumped in anticipation to actually do our jobs as military service members. So far this rotation in Iraq has been a big let down in the action department.

So all this violence the media is playing up just seems like a desperate cry to validate the US Army's existence in this war. This war is so over, and it's time for us to pack our things and go... to Afghanistan.