You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Merry Christmas from Mosul<br />
By Kevin E. Lake<br />
Dedicated to the three U.S. soldiers lost on Christmas Day, 2008, FOB Merez<br />
East, Mosul, Iraq. It was an honor to serve with you. You, and those you<br />
left behind, will not be forgotten.<br />
Christmas, Sweetie!” Specialist Jordan said to his<br />
daughter, Hailey, over a shaky connection from nearly<br />
“Merry<br />
seven thousand miles away. Expecting his call, she’d been<br />
glued to her mother’s laptop for hours, and she<br />
had answered the Skype call on the first ring.<br />
“But it’s not Christmas yet, Daddy. It’s still three hours away,” she<br />
said, a confused look on her face.<br />
“But it’s already Christmas here in Iraq. It’s eleven o’clock<br />
Christmas morning. We’re thirteen hours ahead of you, remember?”<br />
As he talked to his daughter he fiddled with a crushed AK-47<br />
round with the finger tips of his right hand. His lucky AK-47 round, taken<br />
from his gunner’s turret on his very first mission outside the wire in Iraq,<br />
only four months before. It had been hurled his way from the barrel of a<br />
sniper’s rifle, and after clanging around his head a dozen times in less than<br />
33
Change language