1) Julia's Song - America Letter From Baghdad (From) Songs From The Women Of The L.O.M.) Poem by Otradom Pelogo

I ran into Julia, a lady I met at BIAP who had come over to help out when it had gotten really busy, we talked on several occasions within the two week period that she was there. The morning that she was leaving, I was walking out of the warehouse to my truck and stopped and told her goodbye, walked up to her to shake her hand, and found myself giving her a small soft kiss on the cheek before heading out on a convoy. The other evening, we, like we always stop and say hello, or even a ‘hay', when I reached out to shake her hand, I guess subconsciously feeling to see if it was alright to give her a hug also, and lightly put my arms around her and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, which made me feel good inside, and she seemed equally as happy to see me, though our meeting each time are only minutes long at the most.

And incredibly enough, she was sent all the way from Anaconda, along with a few other people, where we slept in the warehouse until permanent housing was constructed; ironically, we both left before moving out of the warehouse, and headed back to Anaconda where we started off. I got there in January of 2004, but I think that she may have gotten there a couple months before I did. And like myself, she started off in the reefer section, then transferred to the Tanker Division, which she says that she likes much better, though I tell people the doing something different only makes the time, I guess when looking back in retrospection, seemed t0 zoom by.

The next day I saw her, she had a pink shirt and jeans, her hair down to her shoulders, though I've always thought from the first time seeing her that she was a very beautiful woman, and wondered why, for some reason, seemed incredibly nice to me, but yet somewhat elusive when that feeling seems to prompt me to get closer. It's nice knowing that she's a sweet person that makes me feel good whenever I see her.

She is the first female driver that I have seen, though we met at the BIAP mail room, which because of the rotation of the troops, it became one of the busiest places in Iraq, where they basically got everyone who could lend a hand to help out.

And incredibly enough, she was sent all the way from Anaconda, along with a few other people, where we slept in the warehouse until permanent housing was constructed; ironically, we both left before moving out of the warehouse, and headed back to Anaconda where we started off. I got there in January of 2004, but I think that she may have gotten there a couple months before I did. And like myself, she started off in the reefer section, then transferred to the Tanker Division, which she says that she likes much better, though I tell people the doing something different only makes the time, I guess when looking back in retrospection, seemed t0 zoom by.