After being in the army for two years, Ryan Conklin of Real World Brooklyn was deployed to Iraq in September, 2005. He remained there for a year. Ryan spoke on camera (below) about his time there. He remarked about the lack of sleep, the carnage, the heat. Even worse, he survived sniper fire, suicide bombers and roadside bombs. Needless to say, it was a "dark and dismal time." Sadly, Ryan had to be there, far from home, on his milestone 21st birthday. He understandably was worried that it was going to be a horrible day for him. However, he became jubilant when on that day, his platoon found one of the largest weapons caches in northern Iraq, and because it was his birthday, they selected Ryan to have the honor of blowing it up. To top off the day, a buddy shared some of his contraband alcohol with Ryan so that Ryan could have some in his system to celebrate his reaching legal drinking age.
When Ryan speaks about his Iraq experience, he seems oddly detached, as if he were describing someone else's experience or perhaps doing a reading from his memoirs. His depth of feeling is more clearly shown in his performance of the song he wrote about the country that was his home during this time. Below are the lyrics and stage direction:
Iraq, you're hot.
I miss home, thanks a lot.
(chorus:)
You suck, Iraq!
You suck, I... [smash guitar in a destructive frenzy]
