When the Iraq War broke out in the spring of 2003, no one knew what was going on, and no real systems were in place. Author Tenacity had his Department of Defense travel orders, but no destination had been specified beyond “Saddam’s palace in Baghdad.” In 2003, few contractors traveled by themselves, and there was no established process. In Six Years in the Middle East, Tenacity shares his experiences as a DoD contractor with the U.S. military in the Middle East from 2003 to 2009. This memoir chronicles his journey as he traveled from Qatar, to Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq again, Oman, and back to Iraq, while entering into a romantic relationship along the way. With photographs included, this journal offers a unique, in-depth perspective on the Middle East and its conflicts of the early twenty-first century through the eyes of a military man and the common sense of a civilian.