Our typical vehicle. Steel plages with large gaps and no cover from blasts. Near Balad, Iraq. Citizens of Tikrit, Iraq, going to a voter rally. Sgt. Medina of New York sitting with Iraqi Army Soldiers. At the tribal meeting.

I must admit my anxiety level went up a good bit at that news, going outside the wire is a little nerve racking, considering that you may not come back the way you left. I don't want it to seem worse than it is, but that is a fact one must consider, and not knowing specifics just adds to the worry.

Right after learning my situation (by the way, we call that a "Warning Order"), I found a letter on my bunk from a good friend, one I had yet to hear from while in Iraq. I felt compelled to let her know I had received her letter. So I sat down and wrote because you never know what's going to happen "outside the wire."

It turns out that we would be going about a hundred clicks north to Tikrit, Saddam's Tikrit, right through the Sunni triangle.

First we had to stop by the Iraqi FOB (Forward Operations Base) and pick up a contingent of Iraqi soldiers. After doing so, we started to pass through a few villages that looked really third world. People back home just don't know how good they got it.

When we passed over the Tigris river, things became real Biblical. I half expected to see Jesus of Nazareth riding a donkey. There were sheep and cattle herders everywhere, and I could see women drawing water from creeks to prepare meals. Children also were everywhere, herding sheep and tending fields. The one thing I get great pleasure from is the kids waving to us and seeing their reaction as I wave back. I am so glad they don't seem to fear us soldiers.

I also saw many huts or house's that seemed to be made of mud or clay. I saw buildings that may well have been there when Jesus passed through. I could visualize the Garden of Eden near here, ok Mozul. The Mosques all seemed very well kept. The palm trees and field of reeds must have changed very little, if at all, from the times of the prophets. People still dress the same, or so it seems.

As we pulled in to Tikrit, one could clearly see that this was a place Saddam spent a lot of energy and money on. We passed through two great archways as we entered the town and came upon what we thought was a hostile crowd. I guess we expected it. Wouldn't you know, it was just democracy in action. The locals of Tikrit were just marching to remind each other to vote. We were greeted by Iraqi flags, thumbs up and "Bush, yes! U.S., yes!" I did take pictures, one hand on my machine gun the other on my digital camera.

Passing through several Iraqi checkpoints manned by soldiers and police, one had to respect the courage needed to stand out there in the open just being a target for cowards. The Iraqis have very little protection against attacks but show up for work every day.

The only problem I had was with a few things we as soldiers did. We have this defensive move that calls for the driver of the Humvee to quickly change lanes when going under an overpass. We don't want things dropped on top of us. The problem is we go so darn fast and these vehicles are so top heavy the only real thing we are doing is risking a rollover. If we turned hard enough to change lanes in 40 feet, going 60 miles an hour, we are surely going to flip and get more of us killed. This has been a major cause of death and injury here, not to mention the Army hasn't provided any such evasive training other then to mention action.

I also did not like being told by a superior not to throw candy or food to Iraqi children. I must explain that the children I fed were waiting outside our gate for us to stop, at the designated stopping place, and our weapons were safe and the 6-year-old boys were on the other side of two rows of deadly wired fence and a concrete barrier. So, the people here act like real heros and just don't see why we should take such a risk with our safety by feeding hungry kids. And the good thing is, two vehicles in front of us some other foolhardy Americans were tossing whole bags of food to the kids anyway! So pin that on your uniform hero!

Today's Arabic phrase is - Aylaa keyfek, calm down