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.

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

House clearing training.

Here's my section training in house clearing.

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

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

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

my new rifle

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

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.

Believe it or not, it does rain in Iraq, as these poor soldiers found out when they tried to move this large forklift over some muddy ground.

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.

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

This is a typical truck driven by private security. It's armored to some extent, and features a "gun bucket" in the back for a rear gunner's position.

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.