ghosts of war 2

Smithson is now in the War of Iraq. And it is nowhere near what he thought it would be. He  thought all of the kids there would hate the americans and throw rocks at them, at that point he would be forced to shoot them. But that was not the case. The first children he saw he said himself would leave a mark on him forever, as they were begging for food and water, because they were so deprived in that dry area. Smithson gave them some army standard food, and these occasions would occur so much that they almost ran out of food for themselves when they were on missions or even crossing through the country. Every standard of war seems to be thrown out of the window, except for the personal toll it takes on you. Surprisingly, no members of Smithson's group have died yet, although they have been involved in quite a bit of combat. He also continues explaining all of the guns, from the army standard m16 all the way to the machine guns on the top of the heavy duty trucks.He is allowed towards the middle of his "tour" to have a 2 week break at home, and it seems that his whole life has been turned upside-down. His family respects him much more, and his parents act ike they just knew they were never going to see him again. Smithson has a great reunion with his girlfriend, and you can feel the emotions flowing during this chapter. Smithson remembers childhood memories when he says his life was so simple. This is also the section of the book where there are pictures, where it justs adds to the emotion that you can feel reading the book.