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 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.

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.

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

Here's my section training in house clearing.

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

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.

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.

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.

That's me flying in a UH60 between bases.

House clearing training.

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.

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

I took this photo while flying over Baghdad. It is the Grand Mosque which Saddam was building when the invasion occurred. When finished, it was supposed to be the largest mosque in the world. I doubt it will ever be completed.

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.