Donde Esta La Biblioteca? Otra Vez

The guy sitting next to Lauren and I on the plane bound for Rome pulled out his laptop and a cloud of dust puffed from his keyboard. He was an Australian soldier anxiously awaiting his two weeks of Roman R&R after six months in Iraq. We all grabbed a free beer from the British Airways stewardess and talked about the war. He reported a lot of good things, a lot of terrible things, and a few even more terrible things. Maybe it was the thought of spending the next two weeks in Rome with his girlfriend that made him so upbeat, but he was as jolly as any other 19 year old I know.

Of course we wanted to know which nation’s army stationed in Iraq was the craziest and he emphatically replied “The Rumanians!” Apparently due to a mix of their completely outdated equipment, incessant binge drinking, and short tempers. When we inquired about his impression of the American troops stationed near his base he carefully recounted his experiences as respectfully as he could. “It’s just that there are a lot more Americans in general and therefore more bad apples as well,” was the main point. Regardless, I couldn’t help but admire the Rumanians’ reputation when he told us what he had witnessed some of the American ‘bad apples’ do. He assured us that many Aussies (himself included) had become good friends with some Americans and he realizes that the actions of a few do not represent the character of an entire nation. He said he always has, and always will, love Americans.

Never has the war felt more real than while talking with someone three years younger than us who, only 20 hours ago, was speaking Arabic to an angry Iraqi villager wrapped up in a conflict that no one really understands. It was as surreal of an experience as it was depressing. The only thing powerful enough to wash away our despair was the huge smile on our Aussie friend’s face when the captain announced our descent into Rome.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.