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Journal containing reflections from Afghanistan stolen from veteran’s garage

Oomar Olivas left his garage open in Longmont by accident. Nothing else was stolen except for a backpack that contained gear he used while serving in Afghanistan for the National Guard. Now, he hopes someone will return an item that he said contains invaluable memories.

KUSA — Oomar Olivas doesn’t care if he gets his backpack back or the warm clothes that were inside. Those can be replaced.

What he does care about is the nondescript green journal that was also inside that he said contains his reflections from the nearly a year he spent deployed in Afghanistan with the National Guard.

“I wrote about the day-to-day,” Olivas said. “Even if was mundane, I wrote about the mundane. I wrote about the certain experiences that occurred, you know major things that I feel influenced who I am and how I perceive things.”

Credit: Courtesy Oomar Olivas
The journal stolen from Oomar Olivas' garage.

According to a report filed with the Longmont Police Department, Olivas woke up on Tuesday morning and discovered that the backpack containing his military utilities uniform was gone.

Olivas admitted that he had left the garage door open the night before, but said that nothing else of value was gone. He only noticed the backpack was missing because he was looking for the pair of warm socks inside.

Olivas told police that he had a uniform inside the backpack with unit patches and a nametag.

But, Olivas said this doesn’t matter to him, and that he thinks whoever stole the warm clothes probably needs them. He just wants someone to return the journal to him, so he can pass the lessons he learned in Afghanistan onto his kids.

“My hope is that somehow, miraculously, someone will put [the journal] on my front doorstep, be it the person who stole it or somebody who found it,” Olivas said.

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