Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990; seventy-five days before my sixth birthday. The invasion that occurred in the Middle East that day not only sparked the start of the First Gulf War, but also set in motion a chain of events that determined the path my life would take. It happened between August 1990 and February 1990. 1991. While I was sitting alone in the basement watching cartoons, news of the war came. A TV host spoke briefly about the situation in Iraq, after which violent video clips began to play on a loop. The fear I felt that afternoon while watching TV left my face burning, but my body cold and numb. It was the kind of terror that started as a knot in the pit of my stomach and spread throughout my body until I had goosebumps. I'll never forget the graphic images that flashed across the screen. One of the videos depicted soldiers dressed in brown and tan uniforms, wearing helmets and carrying huge black guns. They wore sullen, almost blank expressions as they loaded menacingly camouflaged trucks and tanks. One after another, vehicles loaded with troops formed long lines and crossed the colorless desert. The destroyed buildings in the background were made more depressing by the lack of colorful foliage anywhere in sight. In another clip, I saw explosions tear through buildings, leaving piles of smoking rubble on the ground. I watched in silent horror as people emerged from the smoke rising from the rubble. Seeing their dirty, crying, bleeding faces made me cry. In my five short years on this planet I had not yet learned to understand war. I didn't understand that the war was on the other side of the world. In my mind the chaos was only... half the paper... Working for the MEPs I found a place to call home, a place to serve my country and a place to demonstrate my patriotism once again. It's been twenty years since the day I cried about the war in Iraq and many things in my life have changed. Friends have come and gone and loved ones have died. I fell in and out of love twice and my heart broke. But the one constant in my life, the one thing that has never wavered, is the love I have in my heart for my country. I may not have been ready at age five, but when I turned seventeen I knew I was willing to put my life on the line to protect and defend the rights, liberties, and civil liberties that this great nation offers to every American . citizen. To this day, even though I am serving in another capacity, I remain willing to put my life on the line for this country. I am an American patriot.