This book is written from a collection of journal entries I kept during my training in California before I went overseas to serve in Iraq, copies of letter I sent home to my two daughters and school that I taught at when activated, as well as some stories that I wrote about my experiences. There are some facts that are incorrect in this book but I kept them in because they were the truth to me at the time. The letters are mostly word for word as they were written and sent. I have included pictures that go along with my writings that help to show, as well as explain, what I experienced. I have changed or omitted the names of people to protect their privacy. I was not a hero, nor was I involved in any large fighting that took place in Iraq. I was just a fifty-three year old man, close to my twenty-year letter for retirement in the National Guard who happened to be sent to war in Iraq. I don´t pretend to be brave or have any deep meaning to my experiences. I just want to share an average story of an average soldier in Iraq. Sgt. Joseph Berlin (ret.)