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.

This is the Perfume Palace on Victory Base Complex in Baghdad. The story I heard was that this was once where Saddam and his boys kept their extra-curricular female companions. Now, it houses contractors.

Here I am during a trip to Qayyarah to check on a water-pumping station.

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

This ammo can was on the top of one of our HMMWVS and took the force of a IED attack. It probably saved the life of the gunner.

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

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

We went through training on how to search a suspect and I got to play "suspect".

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

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

The extension on the front of this HMMWV is used to set off IEDs prior to the HMMWV actually passing by. These have been used in Iraq for some time, so I don't think I'm giving away any secrets here.

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

Me with one of the local kids in a nearby village.

The FOB I was on was a former Iraqi Air Force base. As a result, we had a couple of these old Mig-21s laying around. The former commander of the base told me the more modern planes were buried - and then dug up for scrap by the locals.

my new rifle

Iraqi Police having their vehicles checked prior to entry to the base. We trusted the Iraqi Army in our area better than the police.

Here's my section training in house clearing.

House clearing training.