GI Flyzap!

The stories Iraqis might have with American soldiers are as various as Iraqis and Americans themselves.

Anyway, here's the story behind the title.

At the area's main gate, there is a group of American GI's and local recruits. One day, my father and I went to Baghdad in the morning and came back in the afternoon for his hand's physical therapy. As we were leaving the area, we saw a group of 4-5 US soldiers sitting there at a check point, with one of them holding a fly zapper in his hand, killing (or trying to kill) the flies that were buzzing around, enjoying the warm sun.

My father and I found that view sort of funny, and we went on our way.

When we returned in the afternoon, a woman GI, with the name of Melidona, was carrying the fly zapper and continuing her colleagues' task of zapping the flies. Her name got stuck in my memory because it reminded me of Maradona :) , and also because she was sort of cute and had exceptionally nice hair for a soldier!

Anyhow, this time, it was really funny to see not only one funny thing, but it actually repeated itself; so my father and I had a good laugh about the following scenario:

40 years from now, this Iraq War veteran is sitting in his/her rocking chair, and his/her grandchildren are sitting nearby, and this conversation takes place:

- "Grand-pa/ma?! How was the Iraq War? What did you do there?!"

- "O, kids! If you only knew! I fought a heck-of-a-fight, and won it all single handed. Killed 'em all!"

- "Waw", the children said with eyes wide open. "You killed the bad guys?!"

- "No!", answers the veteran, "I killed flies!! I had a fly zapper in my hand and left none of 'em alive!!!"

Or maybe this veteran would run for President, but in that case his/her file would definitely be better than the current Chief-of-Staff :)

Nevertheless, it was a good idea to zap the flies, though. At least it is something new that could be added to their daily events.