Few Battlefield Romances From Iraq | Newsweek Iraq War |...
Rated • 1 review • politics • newsweek.com
I read this article in the waiting room and I was surprised a bit because the human side isn't something I've heard too much about. Military romances have been going on as long as there's been a military. My parents met overseas while my dad was in the Army. My mom is an American and was living with her sister and brother-in-law when they met.
I think the worst part is the separation from each other. The walls that have to be up and the battle gear that has to be worn. It makes the situation worse by dehumanizing the situation. It makes the differences stand out more than they should.
The insurgency has divided Americans from Iraqis like no fatwa, no scolding mother ever could. By the time Rich Allinger started courting Zena in the spring of 2004, a sense of siege had descended on the Green Zone, where the blast walls grew ever higher to protect against suicide bombers. Members of the unit that preceded Allinger's "could walk freely," he remembers. "They could put on civilian clothes, go out and have dinner with their Iraqi counterparts, shop, go to teahouses. But by the time we arrived we could not go out unless we were in a force- protection convoy with a gun truck in front and in the back." Whenever he walked outdoors with Zena, he had to wear a helmet and full body armor. She wore nothing but her street clothes.
I think the worst part is the separation from each other. The walls that have to be up and the battle gear that has to be worn. It makes the situation worse by dehumanizing the situation. It makes the differences stand out more than they should.
The insurgency has divided Americans from Iraqis like no fatwa, no scolding mother ever could. By the time Rich Allinger started courting Zena in the spring of 2004, a sense of siege had descended on the Green Zone, where the blast walls grew ever higher to protect against suicide bombers. Members of the unit that preceded Allinger's "could walk freely," he remembers. "They could put on civilian clothes, go out and have dinner with their Iraqi counterparts, shop, go to teahouses. But by the time we arrived we could not go out unless we were in a force- protection convoy with a gun truck in front and in the back." Whenever he walked outdoors with Zena, he had to wear a helmet and full body armor. She wore nothing but her street clothes.
