News of our impending deployment to Iraq came as a shock to
no one. Still, one cannot be totally prepared for something such as going to
fight a war. We originally were to be deployed to Afghanistan, however, that
got cancelled for some reason and we were placed on stand-by to be deployed to
Iraq.
I made all of the arrangements because I could be deployed at any moment. The church members seemed to be concerned, too. There were other members that were also disciples, and I was friends with them. The time came and we were given the green light. We travelled by HUMVEE from Camp Pendleton to March ARB near Moreno Valley, CA, then boarded a C-151 bound for Kuwait. With boots on the ground, I began a 4-month life-appreciation course. I’m not kidding – the basic things that I took for granted, I began to miss. Private showers, private peeing and pooing, sleeping in your own room, etc. Fortunately, I brought along stuff to read in my downtime. Besides the Bible, I read some books from Christian authors (the church strongly recommended you read books from an “approved list”, which most of the books that I read up to that point were by Discipleship Publications, International, ICOC’s publishing company, so they were all safe). I remember there came a time when I began to have these thoughts. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them doubts. One of them was, “When was I going to marry someone?” I was 23 and a virgin. I needed a nice Christian girl to settle down with. I remember this one time specifically when this guy in the unit was “bragging” to another about how he had the chance to lose his virginity at 13 or 14 but decided to lose it at 16, because he was a good Christian boy and was concerned about “purity.” I wondered how God could bless someone so…immoral. Who was he kidding? Deep down inside, I asked God why His hand of blessing was not on me. I was tired of not having sex, and I was horny as hell. After 4-5 months of living in dirt, I boarded a plane back to the States. Never wanted to leave a place so badly in all my life.
I made all of the arrangements because I could be deployed at any moment. The church members seemed to be concerned, too. There were other members that were also disciples, and I was friends with them. The time came and we were given the green light. We travelled by HUMVEE from Camp Pendleton to March ARB near Moreno Valley, CA, then boarded a C-151 bound for Kuwait. With boots on the ground, I began a 4-month life-appreciation course. I’m not kidding – the basic things that I took for granted, I began to miss. Private showers, private peeing and pooing, sleeping in your own room, etc. Fortunately, I brought along stuff to read in my downtime. Besides the Bible, I read some books from Christian authors (the church strongly recommended you read books from an “approved list”, which most of the books that I read up to that point were by Discipleship Publications, International, ICOC’s publishing company, so they were all safe). I remember there came a time when I began to have these thoughts. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them doubts. One of them was, “When was I going to marry someone?” I was 23 and a virgin. I needed a nice Christian girl to settle down with. I remember this one time specifically when this guy in the unit was “bragging” to another about how he had the chance to lose his virginity at 13 or 14 but decided to lose it at 16, because he was a good Christian boy and was concerned about “purity.” I wondered how God could bless someone so…immoral. Who was he kidding? Deep down inside, I asked God why His hand of blessing was not on me. I was tired of not having sex, and I was horny as hell. After 4-5 months of living in dirt, I boarded a plane back to the States. Never wanted to leave a place so badly in all my life.
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