Preparing for home

February 15, 2005

It shouldn't have taken as long as it did.

But it did.

Change comes quickly. Getting used to it doesn't.

I was at Camp Liberty with the 39th Civil Affairs team where they were drawing money for reconstruction projects and filing paperwork on those already done.

It was also the day that the 39th soldiers who have been handling the payment of contractors for those projects closed out their paperwork and prepared to go home.

The hitch?

Well, the people who used to do the paperwork at the division level are going home. Baghdad is quickly transforming from 1st Cavalry territory to the land of the 3rd Infantry Division.

While the Civil Affairs soldiers fought their way through the changing bureaucracy, the rest of us sat on nearby concrete barriers that helped block the bitter wind so we could soak up a little winter sunshine.

Staff Sgt. Jimmy Smith of Fordyce sat next to me in the sunshine and grinned, as usual.

Smith is first to say he'll chat with anyone. He's just the kind of fellow who likes to get to know people.

Well, we sat there and chatted about this and that.

Smith said he's trying to decide what to do when he gets home. He'd like to work with kids, maybe help out at a youth center for troubled kids.

Or he may go back to the nursing home where he did odds and ends.

He spoke about a 103-year-old woman there who used to entertain him with stories of an unbelievable life. She never missed a day of church, "never," Smith said.

And she liked to visit with her friends.

"I liked mowing the lawn, it was fun to tinker with the mower," he said.

Since Smith has been in Baghdad, his 103-year-old friend has passed away.

A lot has changed.

And he talked about adopting his grandson, J.J. He carries a picture of the smiling boy on a chain around his neck.

And he talked about the plot of land he's thinking about putting a trailer on.

The talk was almost completely about home, remembering what was and preparing for what's to come.

Posted by Amy at February 15, 2005 12:40 PM