A Lesson In Control

Last night was a pretty nice evening in Northern Iraq, so three of us were standing outside enjoying the weather and conversation. Every now and again, the guys up on radar hill will pick up signatures of indirect fire (IDF -- mortars, rockets, etc...) being fired from around the city. Sometimes these signatures are just random explosions that are not related at all to IDF. As a precaution, however, these signatures trigger an alert that goes out over the PA system that sounds like an awful alarm clock, followed by "INCOMING! INCOMING!" When this is heard, you can usually find me going on about my business as usual. We've been pretty lucky over the course of the past six and a half months to not have anything land close. As we were standing outside last night, the alarm went off again. When it goes off, the conversation usually pauses so we don't have to speak any louder, and to see if something actually lands. After it finished it's last "INCOMING!", a friend of mine looked at me and said, "You know, one of these days, a rocket is just gonna land right on top of u...."

BOOOOOOOM!

It nearly did. At that point, we decided to see what the inside of our bunker looked like. See, when they shoot rockets, they shoot them in groups off rails. They've been finding them with 9-12 rockets per rail system. Because these guys aren't exactly proficient at their jobs, you can usually expect only about 4 to 5 to actually land near where they are aimed. Of those 4 to 5, only around 2 to 3 will actually explode. When that first one landed near, we knew 3 to 4 were still en route. 2 more exploded once we were inside the bunker, though not nearly as close as the first one.

In my 27 years, I've found nothing nearly exciting as a rocket exploding nearby. As I was sitting in the bunker, I started thinking. There is literally nothing you can do to avoid one landing at your feet. Now, the laws of probability really work against a rocket actually landing close enough to kill you, but there's something sexy about one landing nearby and you being able to blog about it 24 hours later. After seeing and hearing explosions on the countless war movies I've watched over the years, let me assure you that when they happen in real life, they sound completely different...just like gunfire. You might feel the bass from the sound effects in the theater, but you don't feel the ground shake beneath your feet from a real 107mm rocket exploding. Luckily no one was killed during the attack, but it really brings you back to reality when something happens like that.

For years now, I have been a man who needs to be in control. I would rather drive than ride along. I don't like tour groups. I don't like other people making plans for me (which is ironic, based on my career choice). I would rather fly the plane than sit in the cabin (knowing full well that it probably wouldn't end well for me and the rest of the passengers). However, last night was a great lesson from the "You-can't-always-be-in-control" school of thought. See what they did there? These violent extremists are teaching me lessons in life even while they're trying to take mine. Kudos, guys. Kudos.