I am no doubt down to the last few of any communiqués I will generate as a soldier serving in a combat zone for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III.

I try to craft a rhetorical conclusion, a packaging of themes that sums up my time here, our time here, military web logging (blogging), or the entire mobilization experience.

Like some fractal image, as I zoom in and examine the complexity of the picture, I see the same complexity in microcosm that’s visible from afar. It’s just too complex an experience: the 18 month period of a mobilized Guardsman deployed with OIF III as part of our broader Global War on Terror; the insemination of the seeds of democracy in Iraq; the brave persistence of the Iraqi people; the emergence of Iraqi political will and leadership; purple fingers; the Land of Mesopotamia; the Modern Army; the American people, who shower their soldiers with love, prayers, and encouragement; and the families of our sailors, soldiers and airmen and women in the field, air, and ocean.

And the movement of God in me, our men and women, and those who lead us in this effort.

There’s too much to tell, the story suffers as I try to squeeze it into the demands of a (readable) blog post. So I’ll take it on, in pieces and in part, and trust my readers will forgive any discontinuity or occasional incoherence. (Ah, the value of an editor.)

Over the next several days (and perhaps weeks), I will try to take on a few major categories of experience to conclude my time in theater. Each of these will be identified with the word, “Conclusion,” but I am powerfully convicted that this is much more about things beginning, than anything ending, any time soon.

UPDATE: Posts in the Series:
The New War Correspondent
Leaving Home

Links: Indepundit