Camp Adder, Tallil Air Base, Iraq
Photo Gallery 5

Former Iraqi military building.

Inside that building.

A pitched battle was fought right here for the control of this very ground as the windows are all shot out and the walls are full of bullet holes from small arms fire. There are still craters in the ground from bombs delivered from American tanks or aircraft.

Today as I wandered through these bombed-out buildings, the headquarters, barracks, offices, and supply rooms of the former mighty Iraqi military, it was not only spooky, but made me think of our own longevity. The shelves, the desks, the filing cabinets are still here, and over the fluttering wings of the rock pigeons and bats who have moved in, I can almost hear the ghosts of the troops who once lived and worked here. I pondered all the conversations they must have had, the anti-Zionist, anti-Persian, anti-Soviet, and then over the past 15 years…anti-American ideologies. I'm sure there were also conversations just like ours, about families, women, their future plans after military service, and bitching about office politics.

It makes me wonder about us as a country. The Iraqi military was once strong and proud just as us. I wonder if someday, a soldier of an occupying nation, just like me, will wander through the ruined buildings of Ft. Benning or Scott Air Force Base.

All civilizations do fall, time has shown us that. I just hope I'm not around to see it.