a bird knows no barbed wire ...

Iraq, mid summer, and we had been deployed for over a year.

On one the last few missions into and out off Iraq.

We had been on the road for over a week.

The waiting was numbing. It was a waiting to arrive at a camp from the long days drive. It was a waiting to get loaded and off loaded. It was a waiting to die or live. It was a waiting to return home. It was a waiting for convoy clearance in Baghdad and watching the little birds fly free - without fear of the enemy, of the world on the other side of the wire. It was realizing that I wished and dreamed to be like that bird - with out fear of others and free to fly in and out of barbed wire.

Tired

Dust covered 

Waiting

Convoy clearance

Three weeks gone

Lost dusk in western Iraq

IED on MSR Tampa

A bird flying in and out of barbed wire