Relief

Our relief arrived recently. We've been training them the last few days, driving them from point to point and letting them get a feel for the routes. It makes me a bit reflective seeing them in their first few days here. In some ways I feel sorry for them knowing they have a full year ahead but they seem to shrug it off like we tended to do in the beginning. They do ask plenty of questions but they almost seem disinterested and tired. It could be they're still adjusting to the time difference but it seems like for some of them they're disapointed about not going north into Iraq. Many of our guys were like that in the beginning but it's definatly faded as time went on. I myself had a very morbid curiousty about going north, and coming to the end of all this I find I'm less curious but still fascinated by what would have happened had I experienced that trip. Don't get me wrong, I'm under no disillusions about the horrible circumstances that go along with that trip. Still I have this feeling like I came here for nothing even as our officers are touting the importance of what we've done as they will always obliviously do. Sometimes I envy their blind faith.