A view from the above…

Today we had a re-enlistment ceremony for our YN2. Her location of choice? The roof of the Embassy. We all gathered top-side (literally) and the view standing near the emerald green dome is amazing. Seeing things from height gives you a totally new perspective. On one side of the palace, a bombed-out relic of a palace hit by several JDAMS and the crossed swords of the marching grounds - This is the IZ aka "green-zone" - FOB Central. Other than all the troops and security, it seems quiet… Desolate. On the other side, directly below us I see the many roofs of our Hooch community - Trailer parks with palm trees on steroids. I scan out past the compound over the river and for the first time I get an unobstructed view to the heart of downtown Baghdad's "Red-Zone". Amazingly enough, there is a lively active municipality over on the other side. They have traffic like any other city. They have large scale construction projects with building cranes like any other city. They have pedestrians walking about like… I think you get the point. Essentially there is life over there. Make no mistakes this is also where VBIEDS and random gunfire happen almost daily but it doesn’t resemble the desolate combat zones I see through TV news. The beauty of a camera is the view is limited to what the shooter provides. The drawback to a camera is your view is constrained to what the shooter provides. All I can say from my perspective up here is there is active life over there - And where there is life… there is potential.