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Everyone going overseas, no matter your job, has to learn how to do room clearing. Here we are training a "four-man stack". The squad leader is taking up the rear.
This mosque, I was told, was Saddam's personal mosque near the Al Faw palace. Now, it's located on Victory Base Complex.
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.
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.
A collection of rocket launchers. Hajji will often set these up, put a rocket in it, set up some sort of timer device, and then leave the area for the rocket to fire at a later time.
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 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.
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.
Here's a Styker from the FOB I was on. The 'bird cage' of slats around the vehicle help stop RPG rounds.
Here's what it looked like as we boarded the plane to fly to Iraq. I remember being both excited and nervous at the same time.
This chair, located in the Al Faw palace was once owned by Saddam. It's a favorite spot for soldiers to get their pictures taken (can you tell?).
This gentleman was herding sheep around our FOB. The area we were in was predominantly farm and sheep-herding country.
This is a mosque located on our FOB. No American was alloowed inside - even if you were security (like me) or an American Muslim.