Me practicing shooting an AK47. As you can tell, it was a hot day. It was fun shooting the AK on full auto, but I still prefer the M4.

House clearing training.

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

This Qatari was selling opportunities to hold his falcon for $5. I didn't take him up on it.

040426-F-7823A-003 A U.S. Army solder from the 1st Infantry Division, LSA (Logistics Support Area) Anaconda, Iraq, scans the area while conducting a patrol on 26 APR 2004. The area is being cleared of threats so the TACPs (Tactical Air Control Party) can call in an air-strike. (cleared for public release) Photo by Staff Sgt Aaron Allmon II

I took this photo while flying over Baghdad. It is the Grand Mosque which Saddam was building when the invasion occurred. When finished, it was supposed to be the largest mosque in the world. I doubt it will ever be completed.

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.

This mosque, I was told, was Saddam's personal mosque near the Al Faw palace. Now, it's located on Victory Base Complex.

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 in the office. 'BDOC' stands for Base Defense Operations Center.

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.

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.

This is a rocket that landed on our base, detonated underground, and did no damage. I believe this is actually a rocket designed to be fired from an aircraft, but Hajji will use anything they can get to shoot.

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.

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

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

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.