Things Fall Apart

Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Lee Paulsen
Oct. 2, Tarmiya

Remember when I told ya that as the forces swept through Baghdad the bad guys would move to the surrounding areas? Well, guess what. They're here. For the last two weeks, the camp has been mortared daily. We lost one of our CA [civil affairs] teams to a roadside bomb. I'm really getting pissed off. [ ... ] You have to hand it to the U.S. Army, though. We're training the best terrorists in the world. We drive around passing out money and building things, and the enemy practices their bomb-planting skills. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. They're getting really good, though.

Paulsen died of injuries from an IED in Tarmiya, a small town about 40 miles up the Tigris from Baghdad, on Oct. 17. He was 53.

Mundell
Oct. 5, Fallujah

It wouldn't be so bad if we were taking an eye for an eye, but we're not. They won't stand and fight us, for obvious reasons—we outgun them, for one. This one injury here and two casualties there crap is really wearing me out. Worse, the jundees [grunts] are starting to get restless with the populace. Few, if any, of our [Iraqi Army trainees] are from this area. Most of them are from down south, from Nasiriyah and Basra. They are Shiite, and the people here are Sunni, so there is enough tension as it is. This faceless bombing stuff is just making it worse and worse.

Taylor
Oct. 17, Baghdad (journal entry)

Just talked to your mom. I could hear you crying a bit in the background. You were hungry.

It made me think of the week you were born. I'd hold you on my chest. You would do this thing when you were hungry—the women called it "rooting." Like a pig roots around for truffles. You would push your head back from my chest and then start bouncing it against me, over and over. Your mouth would start going like you were trying to nurse. Your head would move left and right, back and forth. It was entirely instinct, but you were so determined and so alive. It also was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I never failed to laugh when you'd start. I don't think I could ever imagine it and not smile. I'm smiling now, even.