As I stepped on to the curb at LAX to try and use curbside bag check in I was greated by an elderly black man about seventy years of age. He didn't say a word but stepped towards me and pulled out his wallet and showed me a picture of himself in his early twenties. I was wearing my Army desert uniform as per orders and he saw something on my uniform that told him I would appreciate seeing this picture, he saw my "Jump wings". In the picture he was wearing a paratroopers cap with the old Airborne glider patch of the very first U.S. Paratroopers.

I took a chance and asked him if he was with the "Triple nickel" to which he replied "Naw, I got there right after they were deactivated and went to the 505th". He was pleased that I assumed he was with the "Triple nickel" and validated my place among true Paratroopers. The "Triple nickel" was the all negro parachute regiment of WW2 and were the very first people to parachute into forrest fires, the 555th was to be called the triple nickel and upon it's deactivation many of these men served in the 505th, which just so happened to have been my regiment in the eighties.

The man was working baggae at the airport and just smiled at me and said "You be real careful over there ya hear" to which I replied "I will and take care of yourself Paratrooper!". It felt good to say that to him and I'm sure it did him well to hear it. I took this as I sign that everything would be OK and my next few months were nothing to worry too much about.

I arrived in Dallas and we were all herded together to get our boarding passes and go through security screening. once we made it through we all kind of started talking again about Iraq and what we had done at home on R&R, most of us heard of the show "Over there" and felt it was just made for TV drama. I was given a reality check when I heard the news report that three soldiers had been killed near Balad by an IED, for the next forty-eight hours I would have to worry and wonder if it was someone I know, it wasn't. Still I managed to slepp most of the way to Kuwait.

In Kuwait I experienced alot more of the fellowship I saw weeks earlier on departure. I learned that my opinions and experience are very common through out Iraq and that most of us just want to go home now and leave Iraq to the Iraqis as soon as possible, and we all think that will not be for a very very long time.The men I shared my tent with in Kuwait were some really good men and soldiers and I really enjoyed speaking with them. It seems we've all had our brushes with death and believe in what we are doing, we just don't agree with the politics involved. I think that's because as soldiers we see things in black and white and know what needs to be done but just don't have the power to do so. So we do the best we can within our set limitations and hope for the best.