I have more than one friend/family member currently stationed in Baghdad. The days leading up to this election have, as thought, brought on an increase in violence. In the early morning hours in Baghdad gunfire and explosions began. I am so scared for my friends and cannot get it out of my mind. For once I feel like there isn't enough news coverage. I want to know what is going on over there and that everything is okay.
The early morning hours in Iraq are late night hours where I am. I was talking to one of my friends online as he lost count of the explosions coming from Baghdad. This isn't his first time at this rodeo. He's been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan more than once before. Of course he wouldn't say it as I talked to him last night, but he really sounded scared. The one friend in particular that I was talking to has less than two weeks left in Iraq. His replacement has already arrived.
He's a life-long friend. Obviously, I want him to stay safe and make it home to his family and friends safely. But right now I just wish that he wasn't having to go through this and wasn't feeling so frightened for his safety and the safety of everyone around him.
It is bringing out full-fledged anxiety and panic for me. I'm crying and desperately searching for any news I can find coming out of Iraq. I'm a little pissed because the news that I do find does not match the first-hand accounts he was giving me as we chatted last night. The news is making it sound like it's going better than my friend was saying. And he is the eternal optimist with more faith in God and that things will turn out peacefully than anyone I know. The things he was telling me were statements of fact, not opinion. I trust what he was saying and now don't how or if I can trust anything I do read/hear in the news.
Perhaps it's just one of those PTSD symptom things, but I don't feel good about this day at all. Really don't feel good about it, can't explain it, but different from anything I've ever really felt before. Definitely a sense of impending doom. I think I will continue to feel this way until I can hear from him again tonight and know that he is still okay.
The early morning hours in Iraq are late night hours where I am. I was talking to one of my friends online as he lost count of the explosions coming from Baghdad. This isn't his first time at this rodeo. He's been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan more than once before. Of course he wouldn't say it as I talked to him last night, but he really sounded scared. The one friend in particular that I was talking to has less than two weeks left in Iraq. His replacement has already arrived.
He's a life-long friend. Obviously, I want him to stay safe and make it home to his family and friends safely. But right now I just wish that he wasn't having to go through this and wasn't feeling so frightened for his safety and the safety of everyone around him.
It is bringing out full-fledged anxiety and panic for me. I'm crying and desperately searching for any news I can find coming out of Iraq. I'm a little pissed because the news that I do find does not match the first-hand accounts he was giving me as we chatted last night. The news is making it sound like it's going better than my friend was saying. And he is the eternal optimist with more faith in God and that things will turn out peacefully than anyone I know. The things he was telling me were statements of fact, not opinion. I trust what he was saying and now don't how or if I can trust anything I do read/hear in the news.
Perhaps it's just one of those PTSD symptom things, but I don't feel good about this day at all. Really don't feel good about it, can't explain it, but different from anything I've ever really felt before. Definitely a sense of impending doom. I think I will continue to feel this way until I can hear from him again tonight and know that he is still okay.
