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

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

my new rifle

Here's one of my soldiers manning the gunner's post. This was during one of our trips into Qayyarah.

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.

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

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

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

That's me flying in a UH60 between bases.

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.

QWBC, the FOB I was on, was an old Iraqi air force base and there were some of these old, beat fighters still lying around.

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.

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

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

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 mosque located on our FOB. No American was alloowed inside - even if you were security (like me) or an American Muslim.