Sunday, December 18, 2011

Last troops leave Iraq


The last vehicle in a convoy of the US Army's 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division crosses the border from Iraq into Kuwait, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. The brigade's special troops battalion are the last American soldiers to leave Iraq.
(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

This photo was taken by Maya Alleruzzo, an AP photojournalist I had the pleasure to spend time with in Iraq in 2010.  To see this picture now, a year after returning from Baghdad, is a bit surreal.  I think a lot about how that year changed my life...  I didn't come back the same person that I was before I left.  I don't yet know what to think of that, but I'm trying to figure it out.  And as I finish up the last few months I have left in the military, I think about the friends I've lost overseas, the Iraqi people I met, and the ones that I served with.  It's bittersweet to see photos like this, but I am happy that everyone (including some good friends!) are now on their way home from Kuwait.  Well done, my friends.

2 comments:

  1. My husband knows Maya, too! She spent a lot of time down at their PB during his tour 06-07. D spent two tours there so the end of the war definitely brings up a lot of emotions.

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  2. Erin, what a small world! She actually stayed in my room for a few days in Iraq as she was covering our unit's redeployment. Before that, I'd met her when I was escorting media for our base. Super cool chick, and super talented!

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