Here's my section training in house clearing.

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

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

This is a typical truck driven by private security. It's armored to some extent, and features a "gun bucket" in the back for a rear gunner's position.

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

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.

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 is me getting the upper hand on one of the guys in my unit. We were learning search techniques for a hand-cuffed suspect.

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

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

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

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.

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.

That's me flying in a UH60 between bases.

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.

House clearing training.

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