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.

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

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

my new rifle

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

I would love to tell you what this mural says, but I never got it translated. I'm pretty sure it dates back to when the Iraqi Army and Air Force were still under Saddam. It was located in a building on our FOB.

This is a UH60 refueling. I don't recall what base this is on. They kick the passengers off while they're doing this, which is when I got this picture.

That's me flying in a UH60 between bases.

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