While in Iraq, you get a one-week MWR trip to Qatar. On one of the trips we were allowed to take, this Qatari was selling camel rides. I didn't bother with it.

House clearing training.

In this photo, I'm in the lower right pulling perimeter security during a short halt in training.

Here's a Styker from the FOB I was on. The 'bird cage' of slats around the vehicle help stop RPG rounds.

I was able to visit the Ah Shaw(sp) palace in Baghdad - one of Saddam's old haunts and now the home of MNC-I. These columns were huge.

This is a mural I saw on Victory Base Complex in Baghdad. Obviously, it's supposed to show the heroic former Iraqi army. There's a painted-over figure on the left. I'm guessing that was Saddam.

During training, we fired our weapons many times. Here I am getting in some practice firing three-round bursts for accuracy.

This is me getting the upper hand on one of the guys in my unit. We were learning search techniques for a hand-cuffed suspect.

A McDonald's sign I saw at Ali Al Salim base in Kuwait.

Here's a couple of the Iraqi Army soldiers we had living on our base. Not exactly Western standards, but they tried.

This is the Al Faw palace at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Saddam used to occupy it, but it's now home to MNC-I.

Believe it or not, this is what they served for dinner one night. I think it was a case of a Turk not translating to English correctly.

This gentleman was herding sheep around our FOB. The area we were in was predominantly farm and sheep-herding country.

This a friend of mine, working for EODT security. He was actually deployed with me, but retired as a Sergeant Major after coming back and starting working for EODT back in Iraq. He's striking a tough-guy pose, but he's really the nicest guy you could meet

Here's what it looked like as we boarded the plane to fly to Iraq. I remember being both excited and nervous at the same time.

This graffiti showed up on some walls in a local national parking lot not long before I left. I was told it is a memorial to locals who had worked for the USA and been killed.

If you fly much in Iraq, then you've likely been on one of these - a C-17. They are much better to fly in than C-130s.