Coffee at Starbucks

He's taken up drinking coffee - I guess being stationed in Seattle will do that to a person. We went to Starbucks to get a grande.

As we were sitting there we discussed morals and convictions. We talked about Iraq and the Iraqis. I hadn't realized until that conversation just what type of man my son had grown up to be.

The Army had educated the entire Brigade about Islam, about Iraq, and about Iraqi society. He told me about these things and how that so much of what he learned was like the discussions we have had about our (somewhat limited) Native American heritage.

The Iraqi are a proud people with beliefs not so unlike the beliefs of our Native American ancestors. Family and friendship were more important than anything else. Time has no meaning. He hadn't even left the US and already he had a deep respect for the people he was about to meet.

We also talked about how he'd feel if he had to kill. He said he'd do it if he had to when the time came but that he wouldn't be proud of himself if it came to that. He understands that to come back home may require him to raise his rifle.

He was a man - he had developed beliefs and convictions - and I know it wasn't just the Army that had this affect on him. He and I believed many of the same things.