My name is SGT Casey, Christensen" Chris". I grew up in a little town in Northern Utah called Providence. I joined the Army Reserves at the age of 17. I Vol entered to go to Iraq November of 2003 and was deployed Jan9 of 2004 with 369th Tc Pls to Lsa Anaconda Iraq.

I served in Iraq at Lsa Anaconda from March of 04 till the end of Feb of 05. While I was their my Platoon ran missions over the Tigris ever day. The bridge we had to cross was being taken out and a new/ better one was being put in so we had a lot of down time at the bridge waiting the engenires to open it up. I was all ways the last gun trucks .50 cal machine gunner. My job was also to direct traffic at the end so that the locals did not block the road for the other convoys that were coming behind us.

While directing traffic i met a little girl named Boshvia Mahid we was 9 years old we became very good friends, i saw her every day and she waved and said hi in her broken English. Towards the last 5 months she wore a soccer jersey from my hight school that i gave her that have written on it " My Favorite Soldier is SGT. Chris" she wore it every day for the last 5 months i was thier. Her family new me, and new were i was from (Utah). Every week Boshvia's family got a huge box full of food, clothes for the adults, children and the baby, toys, shoes, and what ever i could get in the mail from home went to her family.

On Christmas we ran a missions i went up to her house and found out that she was still at school, so i dropped 65 dollars of school supplies to her family for her and their youngest son. The family bought me a Christmas card and wrote happy Christmas and some other things and gave it to me. I truly was one of the most greatest things that i have ever been given at Christmas time because it was truly a give from the heart, A far as i know I'm the only soldier that i know that received a Christmas card from an Iraqi family.

A couple of weeks later i took a picture of me and my " Little girl" and another 3 year old girl from next door and i printed it out and put the picture in a frame and gave it to my little girls family. the next time we were on the road my little girl came up to me and gave me a picture that she had gotten taken at Bagdad when she was seven and on the back she wrote the best she could in english her name. that truly in the greatest memory that i have of Iraq is that Little Girl and her family and the kindness they showed to me.

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