BAGHDAD ADVENTURE

I’ve just returned from Iraq, a short journey (in terms of time) which has had more of an impact on me than I would’ve imagined. For however many blogs it takes, I’ll share some of the adventure and the feelings that go along with it.

JOURNEY TO BAGHDAD—DAY 1

Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest guy alive. I’ve been given so many opportunities in this lifetime similar to this one. I mean, here I am, after all, flying business class to Amsterdam where we will drive to Maastricht Airfield to meet a Russian Cargo plane—an Ilyushin II-76 to Baghdad. Just after the war has ended and I’m heading now to just exactly where I want to be, on planet Earth. Some may call my somewhat perverse desire to always be at the place "where it’s happening" strange, some may call it adventuresome. My wife and kids just accept it. For me, it feels simply like a form of innocent curiosity.

My photo pack is heavy with my two Nikon cameras, about 60 rolls of film, two Maglites and plenty of batteries for everything; we hear there’s no electricity operating in Iraq. It seems to me there’s an assured adventure awaiting.

Still, I’m in the expectation stage of my journey—A brain full of questions is traveling along with me. What about my heart? Is it too soon to be venturing this far from home? Should I have discussed this with my cardiologist, Dr. Fishman? (I can tell you the answer to that one.) What if he told me not to go—would I have gone anyway? Am I just being a crybaby or are my fears well founded?

Carrying my heavy camera bag through the airport terminal causes me some anxiety. The pressure it puts on my chest wound makes it hurt. Yesterday, as if giving myself a self-examination, I actually took the time to run my finger alone the scar where the bone had been sawn through. It shocked me how bumpy the area is where the bone has sealed. Nothing comes to mind to compare it with—it is simply a bumpy path between the two sides, which have been wired together.

These are my thoughts before fading off to sleep. With every new adventure there comes some fears. For this one it is what John Connell and Randy Weiss and I talk about most—which is the ride out of Baghdad—8 hours to the border of Jordan. People are being robbed along this route but there are no flights out of Baghdad so there is no other choice. Nobody has been killed. "Okay, but robbed" I am thinking. I don’t relish the possibility but this is a role I like; one with a light coating of danger, just enough to make it an adventure.