You might ask what this has to do with investing? In my first post I gave a personal definition of investing. It's a means to a better end and living life so your kids and their kids are blessed. So that's what I'm going to do for my second post. I'm going to leave something for my kids and their kids to read in order to learn a little about their heritage, so here goes...
I was deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009 and again in 2013-2014 to Afghanistan. This story comes from the first deployment (the one to Iraq). I was escorting the secretary of someone that is a household name. That person is going to remain nameless for the time being, but if I said the name, every person reading this would know the name - unless you've been living under a rock. My mission was convoy security and personal security. I was a medic at the time, and all of the generals and heads of state that got out of a vehicle for any reason asked for a medic to go with them (for obvious reasons). This particular trip was to the Chief of Police's compound in Baghdad. We always travelled in a convoy of four armored vehicles - fast and hard. The vehicles would always wait for us at the front gate of any compound we went to in order to make sure no vehicle bombs could pass them and enter the compound unexpectedly.
----interjection...in case you're wondering, nothing bad happened on this particular time. No bombs exploded, no sniper fire, not even rocks were thrown this time. If you just became bored, I'm very sorry...please keep reading. It turns out better.----
I was one of the personal security that got out of the vehicle as "live bait" in order to make sure there were no snipers around waiting for people to get out of a vehicle. Everyone in the vehicles had eyes outward, so a sniper trying to hide would be somewhat difficult (though not nearly impossible), especially after firing off a shot. Once we deemed the area "safe," the dignitary (this is what I'll call him for this blog's purpose) got out and we escorted him into the compound. As soon as we were through the front gate, I looked to my right, and there was a line of cars. The first three cars in the line are what caught my eye. The first was a color changing (the popular paint from the 90's) Bentley Continental. The second was a Pepto Bismol pink Ferrari Testarossa, and the third was a charcoal Porsche. Since I was escorting someone at the time, I couldn't exactly stop and ask him to take my picture with the vehicles, so I had to commit the vehicles to memory and hope that I would always remember seeing them - covered so much with dust that the color was almost unrecognizable.
We got inside the Police Station, checked the room as we always did before the dignitary went in - just to make sure there were no people with malicious intent or bombs or anything of the sort. After everything was deemed "safe," the dignitary went in with the Iraqi Chief of Police and his staff, and we waited outside the door to make sure no one went into the room after the meeting started. While I was sitting in the hall, the Iraqi Police Officers enjoyed practicing their English and speaking with us. One of them started showing us scars of bullet holes...seven in all. He said they were all by Americans, but he exclaimed very loudly and energetically that HE LOVES AMERICANS!! I asked him where the cars out front came from, to which he responded, "Those are the vehicles that we confiscated from Saddam's son, Uday Hussein. The Bentley is sick, the Ferrari is broken, but the Porsche works perfectly fine. I'll go get you the keys! You can have it!"
So here I was, standing outside a door, pulling security and being offered a Porsche that had been owned by Saddam Hussein's son. I know every person reading this story will ask why I didn't take him up on the offer, but can you imagine trying to get that thing through customs. I'm sure it didn't have a title. I'm also sure it would be considered a "spoil of war" (by the way, those are pretty much impossible to bring home, not to mention potentially illegal).Of course I had to decline the offer. We left that day, and I hoped I'd always remember seeing those.
A couple of days ago, I was on Pinterest (if you find that weird, get on pinterest, and do a search for anything - cars, guns, Christmas decorations, teddy bears, or whatever you want - you'll see it's not weird). On my home feed, a picture came up of two Iraqi soldiers standing next to a Pepto Bismol pink Ferrari Testarossa that was covered in dust. I thought, 'it's not possible.' Here was a picture of the exact vehicle I had seen. I clicked on the link and was taken to a page that showed pictures of vehicles that were owned by a man named Uday Saddam Hussein and had been confiscated by the Iraqi Police. I yelled through the house to my wife, "BABE!! REMEMBER THE STORY I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE CARS?!? HERE THEY ARE!!"
I now have lasting images that I can actually show people and tell them that I was offered that very car to have as a gift from the Iraqi Police. Just in case you're curious and want to see the cars, the link is here: http://www.carhoots.com/article/saddam-husseins-sons-lost-cars-represent-one-of-the-most-unique-collections-youll-find/
I know this has been a pretty long read. I'm sorry for that. I hope to keep them shorter in the future, but this story was too good not to tell. I really hope you'll enjoy reading it and that it makes your heart jump just a little knowing that events are true. People tend to forget what happens worlds away. It would seem that if you can't see it, it's just a story, and it didn't happen. I hope this makes you think about those men and women that are serving. It's not all bad that happens overseas. Sometimes it's actually very cool, and normal people - the 99% who aren't able to see things like Uday Hussein's cars, or the Tigris River, or the mountains of Afghanistan - can actually relate to and understand if they're able to see it in writing and hear about it from a personal account.
My investment today is in you, the reader - whether that's someone I'll never meet, or my children and grandchildren. I hope my investment in you helps you to appreciate all the people you've never met that have done things for you that you'll never see, but you live the effects of the freedom bought by the 1%.
This blog is written by someone who has never blogged, and it's all about doing things that I have never done - and learning every step of the way!
