A chance meeting

October 15, 2006

I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was Spc. Johnny Cartwright. He dropped the armload of body armor he was carrying in a pile on the powdery dirt and reached out to give me a hug.

The last time I saw him, he was in Searcy with a U-Haul, preparing to put his belongings in storage and head back to Iraq.

That's right. I said back to Iraq.

I first met Cartwright here in Iraq during his 2004-2005 tour of duty with Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade. He volunteered to come back with Arkansas' 875th Engineer Battalion, as did seven of his best buddies from the 39th’s 2nd Battalion, Bravo Company, in Batesville.

They now wear the 875th hog patch.

Cartwright started talking a mile a minute in his smooth north-central Arkansas drawl. There was so much to tell me.

"Wait until you hear this ..." is usually how it starts.

Capt. Dave Moore, Alpha Company commander with the 875th, looked back and forth between us as we caught each other up on things. I told him my adventures here and he told me his in the rapid-fire way that we use.

I explained to Moore that I knew these 39ers well. A year in Iraq makes lifelong friends. We'd been through a lot. Bombs, bees and battles.

I joked with Cartwright about how many times his platoon tried to get me killed. He laughed.

"Hey, you just kept following us," he said with a wide smile. He told me most of the rest of his buddies were at Camp Stryker in Baghdad.

He didn't like being split up. They came here together. But there are no guarantees in a war zone.

Then, as quickly as we started the conversation we closed it down. I had work to do, as did he.

We had hoped to meet up for dinner.

But like I've said before, logistics in this place is a nightmare.

Finding someone for dinner is like a needle in a haystack.

But when you find a familiar face in this crazy haystack, it makes your whole day.

Posted by editor at October 15, 2006 12:57 PM