Personal Narrative: My Life In Northern Iraq

It was March 17, 2003, when my world got a bit worse. The older I get, the more I realize how terrible our economy is. People in Iraq are destitute, they don’t have access to clean water, electricity, and enough clothing. A fifteen year old girl should not be able to tell you everything there is to know about Saddam Hussein, but I can. Though my dad told me society prefers that I am oblivious to all the riots and shootings, I prefer to listen to every adult conversation when I have the chance. It interests me to hear about life only a few blocks away. People assume I am miserable, but that is not true. Although terrible situations are around me, I wouldn’t necessarily say my life is “bad”. Life is never bad unless you experience war. I personally

You could tell my brother was screaming as much as he could with his small little lungs. I quickly ran over to our tiny bathroom wondering what was going on. There you could see my little brother using all his force to hold up my mom who had fainted on our cement floor. Even with the two of us repeatedly yelling at her to wake up, her eyes stayed closed. I began to really worry. I ran over to her bedroom and scurried through my blanket looking for my phone. As my sister dialed 9-1-1, I ran back into the bathroom where my brother was sobbing. My sister had already called my aunts and cousins over. They were all trying to help wake her up. They called out her name multiple times. They also hovered rubbing alcohol under her nose, in hopes of her waking up. I let my brother know that everything was going to be fine and that the ambulance would be here in no time to help my mom. I was shaking as I sat next to my brother helping him hold up my mom. My older cousin took our spots and helped sit my mom up.

“Fire, bullets, death” that’s everything I saw when I was in Afghanistan. I open my eyes, i’m at work again, but, everytime I close my eyes I see all the tragedies that happen over there. Before war everyone use to tell me, “Jeff don’t be too shy” or if not “Jeff you are so loveable and friendly with everyone.” Brandon Wallace was my best friend since childhood, he even went to war with me. Then there's, my lovely wife, Nicole Sebastian, she is the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I was in my senior year in high school when army men came to my school and ask for recruiters for war. At that moment I asked myself, “what am I going to do after high school? Am I going to survive in war? Should I enter myself in this situation?” After all, I out my name down, my heart was pounding, my breath was hard, I knew there wasn’t no turning back. When I got home

That day it went by to fast my brother and I tried spending as much time as I could with my dad. That night I went to bed sad I didn’t know if i would wake up in time to say goodbye to him. That morning I woke up and ran to see if my dad was still here. I ran into the kitchen first where I saw him eating ready to leave. He said that they were going to pick him up in ten minutes. Next thing you know we here a knock on the door. I went to answer the door it was some men in uniforms they were there to pick my dad up. My dad said goodbye to us I started to cry when he was leaving and so did my brothers and mom.

When I was 7 years old I attended a funeral for my great grandfather. He was 105, and had lived a full life. I wasn’t very close to him but seeing him in the casket was so odd and he looked like an alien. I was a curious child so I stood in front of the casket just observing the body and glancing around at the sadness that this room was filled with. My uncle joined me and asked me if I had said spoken to my great grandfather. I just looked up at him and said “No, he is dead”, since I was pretty certain dead people didn’t talk anymore. Well, he proceeded to tell me that if I asked him a question, my great grandfather would indeed respond. I didn’t ask since I was already scared at this point. My uncle did for me, he asked, “Grandpa, if you

It was the first Sunday of December morning when my father asked me to take some boxes to the basement, I had never been down there, as a kid I always thought it was scary, but know as a 19-year-old guy, how could I say no. I went downstairs with a couple of boxes, but could not find any place to put them. The area was a mess, so I decided that I would organize every box that was there. While I was organizing, I notice this one box hidden in the back, so, I decided to open it. Inside the box, there was a newspaper and a couple of burnt pictures. Therefore, I decided to read the article, I could not understand much, it was an 18 years old newspaper, but it talked about a burning house with two twin babies, It said that one had been saved with no harm while the other one was rescued later on with severe burn mark. It was a miracle that other baby had survived, they called him miracle Carlos, and his brother Richard. I stood there for a second before my brain processed

Plenty of people were talking about what had happened, from the soldiers and leadership of 1st Armored Division, to the families waiting for us back in Friedberg, Germany. The incident had even been reported on in the Middle Eastern edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, being referred to as a showdown. But not everyone was there. And if it were not for my squads training, cohesiveness, and diligent house search during a mission to check and clear supposedly empty houses in the north eastern sector in the Iraqi town of Tal Afar, it could have been that no one would have ever even known about the guy in the hole in the wall. As it turned out, though, the first house we entered to gain access to the roof in order to pull security for

It was just another ordinary day; no one could have predicted it would turn out the way it did. We were assigned to our usual stretch of desolate open road, mostly calm and quiet; maybe a couple of vehicles would pass by per day. It was my duty to watch over the group on a nearby bridge. It was decided over a coin flip, as it did not involve anything more than sitting in the sun and basking for a couple of hours. It was a favored assignment amongst us; the rest of the group spent the day patrolling up and down the road and checking documents, you know, boring things. Time passes

We got in my dad’s truck and headed to our house. I still remember this like the day was yesterday my dad turned to me and my brother and said “I hope you boys never have to experience anything like this ever again In your life’s.” We got back to our house and it was perfectly fine. A tree fell across the road which would become our tree house for weeks to come. There was no power what so ever so at night there was no air or lights. My dad pulled a mattress into the living room and me, mom, and my brother laid on it and my dad would sit up all night basically fanning us with a huge piece of card

When I picked up my dad's sword, I felt invincible. It was almost as if nothing in the world could harm me. Then, all of a sudden a blade cut through my arm. I had arrived at Camp Half-Blood on my eleventh birthday. I was placed in cabin eleven since I was undetermined. After I became determined I was placed in cabin five. Now I am fifteen, and my life is just getting started. I am the demigod daughter of Ares. I am decisive, fearless, and determined.

Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Middle East until the country split in two in July in 2011. In addition, it's ranked the 10th largest country.

My mom kept saying "I have got to go see Fran. I need to see with my brother" My mom ran down stairs to get ready to go, I followed her and just stood there, still paralyzed. She hugged me and said that she loved me. I had never seen my mom so panicked. She went into the bathroom to take a shower and I could still hear her sobbing through the door. I was all by myself, now. I was standing in the middle of the family room as the words "He is dead" pierced my heart like daggers of ice. I was screaming OH, GOD NO, and started to cry uncontrollably. The realization that I would never see my uncle again struck me. After I got myself under control I went and packed my things to leave with my mother. As soon as we were done we were on the next flight to New Jersey.

I joined the Marine Corps looking for a challenge. I wanted to open doors for a new career and longed to have a positive impact on the world around me. Looking back five years later, I realize I found all that I originally sought, but I’ve also found something profoundly satisfying and meaningful that I never knew I was missing.

About me, I had a very colorful and meaningful life in Vietnam; I worked at a MC, a photographer, and a chef for my family. First, I began my first job as a MC for a small music band in my hometown. I often had many shows as like as wedding party or community events. My job was very difficult, but it was fun because I made a lot of new friends, and I could learn more new things. Second, I love my second job as a photographer because I could travel in many places in Vietnam. Also, by a camera, I took many unforgettable and meaningful photos for myself. Some of my photos were still in my hometown’s museum, and I was very proud about it. Finally, I was a chef for my family. My wife worked very far from my house, so I needed to help her take

We all got into the car and immediately my sister was bombarded with questions. “Is he ok?”, “What happened?”, “Who is with him?” She answered each one to the best of her knowledge. She told us that his heart had stopped and started back up again, and that Mama (my Mom) and Papa (my Dad) were at the hospital with him. The car ride there was a very scary ride, because we were all so frightened by what had happened.