Dinner with a Congressman

Last night I had dinner with a newly elected Congressman from Iowa, Rep. David Loebsack (D-Iowa). Members of Congress come here on a regular basis, and the Division tries to get them face to face time with Soldiers from their state. There were four of us from Iowa with Rep. Loebsack, though I am the only one actually living in Iowa (well, Iraq right now, but you get the idea... the other three were active duty and not in the Reserve or Guard).

Rep. Loebsack was friendly, and seemed genuinely interested in what we did, and what we were experiencing. He asked us what we thought of the surge, and admitted that he had voted against it, and asked for our honest opinions. While I don't think he was going to change his mind simply by what we said, I thought that he was sincere and truly wanted to know what we thought. I told him that as a chaplain, I wasn't the best one at the table to talk about the tactical issues, but I expressed my belief that since we're here, we have an obligation to make sure we don't leave this place in a chaotic state. I expressed my opinions about our moral obligation to Iraq, as I have done on this blog in the past, and he seemed to listen and even offered some of his opinions; he seems like a good guy. (note: this post should not be read as an endorsement either for or against Rep. Loebsack, as it is neither)

This afternoon, I had time to go for a run. I normall run the large man made hill here, which has concentric running paths around it, going up, but today I ran along the two lakes between here and Camp Victory, which is adjacent to Liberty. I ran over to Al Faw Palace and back... about a 4 mile run, with the various paths I took.