For over twenty years I have written poetry or short stories to express my feelings or respond to the things around me. I came into the Army in 1983 and in ‘89 I found myself in Panama with the 7th Infantry Division during operation “Just Cause”. While I didn’t see a lot of action but just enough, I saw how people reacted under stress and learned what it meant to loss a close friend in combat. Being soldier is perhaps for me the most rewarding thing I think I could have done with my life. I completed my degree through the military before entering the reserves for a while.



In 2004 after already having served almost two years back on active duty I wanted to serve with the soldiers in country, Iraq, so I could not just be one of the guys supporting them back at home, but be one of the boots on the ground. Well I went there and like everyone else responded whenever mortars came in and looked twice at pictures in the Stars and Strips for familiar faces I might know. After returning from Iraq and returning to civilian life I can look back on my experience and always remember those times. So this book of poetry is a bird’s eye view into what I saw and felt as well as heard from fellow soldiers while stationed there.