(To The Tune: I’m Looking Over A 4 Leaf Clover)

 

Thursday, October 11, 2:02 AM

Psalm 91:11-13:
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
They shall bear you up in their hands,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent
you shall trample under foot.

What a time Chris is having! He called us Tuesday (October 9^th) to give us the glad news that he was okay. His guardian angel has been working overtime (thankfully!!) once again. The humvee he was in took a small IED that took a tire off. There were no real injuries. Chris got a scratch on the eye, but nothing to cause permanent damage. I’m glad that it was only a small bomb! Of course, where Marines are concerned, I’m not sure at what point they call something an injury. They are a tad unique.

Greg had heard On the USMC website that the whole 3/5 was moving up to the Syrian border to a FOB (forward operating base), but that was a false alarm. Actually, that might not have been so bad. Nothing seems to be going on at that border. My biggest concern is the Iranian border. By the time Thursday hit, Chris was back from Lima Company and at the H & S Company Guard again.. Of course this could change at a moment’s notice. His orders change more often than his ability to shower. He may eventually go back to Lima, but who knows truly? I’m afraid that the USMC doesn’t even have the answer to that.

On this particular day Chris and a buddy were walking along serenely (?) observing the vista before them. Chris grabbed his bud to force him to stop abruptly. He pointed out an interesting bit of Iraqi fauna in their path. It was a lovely Common Hooded Cobra. Now Chris has always been interested in poisonous animals, especially snakes. When he was little and visiting the zoo I always spent a good deal of time with Chris in the serpentarium. Possibly God was simply getting me ready for the role of being Chris’s mom. (Fortunately, I like snakes, excepting poisonous ones when I have no glass between them and me.) Anyway, the cobra was feeling a wee bit threatened. It was partially coiled, partially rising up three feet off the ground. It made a lovely hissing noise at them as it gently swayed back and forth. When confronted with this type of situation, one is not supposed to move. So, carefully considering this advice from the experts, Chris and his friend bolted away as fast as they could go. In these cases the snake is supposed to chase you down for running away, thus continuing to give you the thrill of your life. This snake forgot to read the pertinent literature regarding its behavior. Praise God it did not follow them. As it turns out, Camp Baharia is chock full of these little critters. Chris has now made the decision to avoid attempting to pick a cobra up, ever. Steve Irwin he is not (much to the relief of his parental units). He has been known to pick many other snakes up for observation.

Such a relief to find that the rest of the day proved uneventful (or if it was, he didn’t offer to share it with me). Being Chris, he’ll never run out of material for good stories later on. I hope that everyone is having a blessed week.

Sincerely,

JM