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.

That's me flying in a UH60 between bases.

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

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

Here I am at the infamous Abu Ghraib. While in Baghdad, I ran into a friend of mine and was able to join one of his unit's convoys to this prison. This is, of course, prior to this facility being turned over to the Iraqis.

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

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.

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.

Here's a Styker from the FOB I was on. The 'bird cage' of slats around the vehicle help stop RPG rounds.

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.

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.

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

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 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

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

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.

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.

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