Part VII: "Chicago"

I stop in Chicago on the way home. I talk outside with Eric. Like many of the vets, he still gets very juiced on adrenaline when talking about his experiences in Iraq. Eric describes yet another checkpoint killing involving civilians, the fourth separate incident I have heard about. Three generations of a family were in a farm truck. Something happens, and in the confusion the soldiers open fire, killing everyone but a small child. The child was patched up, and was later placed in a small cage, the height of which Erik approximates with his hand, about three or four feet. He is still outraged. “We kill his whole family, and we put him in prison.” Erik then helped remove the boy’s family members in body bags. He describes a crowd of “at least 500” family members, moaning, waiting to identify the bodies.
The ride home is uneventful and I’m tired and pretty homesick. I spend my last few dollars on a beer between Buffalo and Springfield.
[Above Iraq photos courtesy of Independent Journalist, Dahr Jamail, www.dahrjamailiraq.com]