Shepherds & Soldiers & Pumps on the River

During a reconnaissance along the Tigris River recently, members of 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 2-198th Combined Arms Battalion, encountered two shepherd boys and a small flock of black-faced sheep. The Mississippi Guardsmen were investigating local Iraqi water sources. Four ancient diesel-fueled pumps labored to push water up the bank through two-inch pipes.

The soldiers and the shepherd boys watched each other in silence as the boys herded their flock slowly away.

The contrast is almost too obvious to mention--American techno-culture and Iraqi pastoralism. The Soldiers wore heavy body armor and bore keen weapons. The Iraqis had on loose-fitting trousers and shirts. The visors of baseball caps jutted from under their kaffiyehs, long head scarves. They carried sticks to prod the sheep.

The northern Mississippians stood vigilant. The shepherds eyed them warily. The sheep bleated softly to one another. Four water pumps chugged on the river bank, an Iraqi mechanic nursing each.

And the river flowed, the current taught and rippling beneath a quiet skin.