Down to Single Digits!!

Thirty things I'll miss about Iraq...

1. Omnipresent aerostat balloon watching over me.


2. Free food.


3. Free gas.


4. Free laundry.


5. Wearing body armor = free exercise.


6. Walking everywhere = free exercise.


7. Running for bunker = free exercise.


8. No cooking.


9. No cleaning.


10. No utility bills.


11. No cell phone.


12. No commercials on TV – and the military infomercials are so entertaining.


13. No grocery shopping or trips to the mall.


14. No yard work.


15. No pesky “What will I wear this weekend?” dilemmas.


16. Every volleyball court is a sand volleyball court.


17. Bronchial rattle of hooch air conditioner comforting, reassuring.


18. Two guns and a knife make me feel like a bad-a*s.


19. The Gator.


20. The bat house.


21. Random weirdness, such as abandoned open box of Q-tips at bus stop.


22. That fresh bubble gum smell of a clean port-a-john.


23. Cha Cha wetting his pants.


24. Bugging the engineers.


25. “Jambo jambo!”


26. Can always depend on a good giggle from Australian uniform “camouflage” (It has lavender hearts, I’m not kidding)


27. World’s most beautiful palm trees.


28. Bird song saturating the hot mid-morning air.


29. Feeling of contributing to history.


30. The friends I’ve made.