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.

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.

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

House clearing training.

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.

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

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

Here's a couple of the Iraqi Army soldiers we had living on our base. Not exactly Western standards, but they tried.

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

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".

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.

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.

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

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

This gentleman was herding sheep around our FOB. The area we were in was predominantly farm and sheep-herding country.

While in Iraq, you get a one-week MWR trip to Qatar. On one of the trips we were allowed to take, this Qatari was selling camel rides. I didn't bother with it.

This photo was making the email rounds while I was in Iraq. Reportedly, it was a wolf captured in or around Baghdad. I don't know that wolves are indigenous to Iraq, so it could have come from the zoo.