Toby Keith in Concert

Toby Keith decided to drop by and play an acoustic jam for the troops here in Baghdad. He came on wearing one of our uniform shirts and he had to have been exhausted after playing all over the deployed area and I believe this was the third concert today. He played some songs off of his new album (White Trash with Money) and also some crowd favorites. The concert lasted about an hour and drew a large crowd of clearly devoted fans. Lighters being held in the air, posters with song references held up high and a couple of soldiers holding up the American flag. We all had a real good time and appreciate him and Scotty Emerick coming over to entertain us.


Toby Keith sings for the Troops.


Scotty Emerick and Toby Keith play for the crowd.


Soldiers holding up the Red, White, and Blue.

Indy 500 Party

Not sure how many of you keep up with the Indianapolis 500, but I know for sure that Sean Harshey does. He not only keeps up with it, but he took on the challenge to set up a Baghdad, Iraq Indy 500 event. Sean has a few good connections back in Indy and coordinated an event for the Soldiers deployed here in Iraq. He went to great lengths to have flyers prepared, have event items such as official programs, t-shirts, hats, playing cards and banners mailed here to be given to the Soldiers attending the event, and he even made sure there was enough food for 200 people! It was an awesome achievement to pull off, but on top of all that, he even coordinated to have a live video feed to from Iraq to ABC Sports back in the states. Because of this, during the national anthem, the T.V. station cut over to our event live! What an amazing event to have participated in. The room was full of Indy fans and also a lot of people from Indiana who have been activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Below are pictures of Sean and the fans.


Sean Harshey asks the crowd Indy 500 trivia questions.


A Soldier gets the answer correct and receives a program.


Sean Harshey asks the first trivia question, the crowd responds.

Bolder Boulder 10K - Baghdad, Iraq

Today started off pretty early, with a reporting time to the race site of 0530. Edwin Diaz, Ben Grimes, Johnny Provost and I arrived together to see a mass of people with running numbers on, there was music playing in the background and a bit of excitement in the air. The temperature was quite warm and humid, warm enough to reconsider running a 10K, but we had already set the wheel in motion. We registered at the tables, received our numbers and listened to a safety brief. After that the race organizers moved us to the starting line in the same manner as if we were actually in Boulder, CO. We had our warning and then the start. The crowd surged forward as we began our run. You could see the adrenaline in some of the runners who ran far to the outside of the main group so they could pass and with a burst of energy, they would fly past large groups of runners. After the first mile the group began to spread out with the fast runners very far ahead of my slow pace. We hit the first water point grabbed a cup of water and blah - it was hot water. The water was warm because they had to preposition crates of water prior to the start of the race and we do not have coolers or enough ice to have kept it cold. That was okay, we moved on. I was feeling pretty good and my pace was consistent. We pass the 3 mile mark and I think, wow - this is just short of the half way mark, but still feeling pretty good. We make a turn and are blessed with a content stream of air blowing against us; it felt great! We make another turn and hit another water point, yep, more hot water. It is not that bad, just a surprise. It was great to be able to rinse your mouth out and drink just a little. We move on past he fourth mile and I am starting to get a little tired, but the pace of the other runners keeps me motivated. We pass the 5 mile mark and make the final turn when I notice that the wind I was so happy for earlier, is now at my back and it is almost like you are just standing still in a room with the heat on. This was the hardest stretch of road on the course, but you can see the finish line ahead. At this point, I see runners speeding up and passing up people left and right trying to get to that long awaited finish line. We get the the last street and they have us turn left and then loop back to the finish line! YEAH! It is over and boy am I relieved. I finished at 1:00.04, that is one hour and 4 seconds. My goal for the race was not to set any records, but just to get out and run a 10K. This was my first and not the last. Some of the other guys with me ran in the low 50s. We all had a great time and even got a free t-shirt to boot!

This run was coordinated by a couple of military members stationed here and they did an excellent job! Everything ran smoothly and there is nothing I could see that they could have improved on. There were also about 30 or so volunteers on hand to make sure everything was running good and I just want to thank them for making this an excellent event.

Here is the link to the real Bolder Boulder 10K which has around 50 thousand runners each year. http://www.bolderboulder.com/

It's Gettin' Hot In Herre!

As you can see above, it is really starting to warm up out here. When walking outside of the building you can feel the heat hit you like a hair dryer on high. Oh, you want to know how I would know what a hair dryer feels like? I remember, it has been a while, but I still remember. The weather is taking a turn in the wrong direction. One of my friends just returned from Germany where he said that it snowed while he was back there. It is amazing at the difference in climate just a few hours away.

Hump Day

PT Test - We are having our semi-annual Physical Fitness testing this week. What is the Army's Physical Fitness Test? It is where the Army evaluates each Soldier on their ability to do push-ups, sit ups, and the 2 mile run. There are also alternate events for the 2 mile run. They are the bicycle, swim or 2 1/2 mile walk.

We had a good turn out this morning, even though it started at 0530. We begin with the dreaded weigh in, which requires us to stand on a medical scale and includes being measured for height. I always feel like cattle that are getting ready to be sent to the slaughter house, but first we want to see what they are worth. After that fun task, we start the push-ups and sit ups. It is fun to see everyone trying their best to get the highest score. Even though passing is the standard, many go the extra distance to get the high score and bragging rights for doing the best on the PT Test. Once those portions are complete, we walk to the start point and begin the 2 mile run or 2 1/2 walk.

LuckyPix Interview -I will be interviewed for an article that will appear on LuckyPix's blog. They are wanting to learn about what we are going through out here in Iraq. How decisions in our life have brought us to where we are today. It should be a good article and great exposure for my photography.

Photo from Baghdad

Scott Reid plays guitar on the balcony of the Al Faw Palace. Getting time to keep up the guitar playing skills is difficult out here. The hours are long and the conditions are not favorable. It is great to see him take some time for himself.

1st Annual Wild-Wild West BIAP Half Marathon

Whew, that is one long name and if you are wondering - no, I did not run, because I am taking a physical fitness test in two days. We had a great turnout from our office. There were 9 total who participated and finished; not only did they finish, we had Matt Wolf finished 9th overall. That is a very respectful position considering the level that some of the runners are on. The course they ran on was a tough one. It was on dirt and gravel roads and was an up and back course. I have signed up for a 10K run for later this week. Of course, that will be after the physical fitness test. My mission today was to take photos, so, I have attached several from our office for your viewing pleasure.


Brian Adams



Mickey Miller



Ruth Vetter



Kim McCann



Matt Wolf



The Group Shot

Just Taking Pictures

Nothing much going on around the palace except for the normal routine. The temperature is rising and it is good timing that people are able to go on their R&R (rest and recouperation). We get a few weeks off to go and spend time with our family.

Several people are leaving for good because their year is up, so I am trying to get some pictures of them before they depart. Below I have attached several of my most recent photos.



Edwin Diaz


Andrea Goode


Jeremiah Bayer


Christina Willis

Softball Season?

I know what you must be thinking...softball in Baghdad? I was thinking the same thing. We ordered t-shirts online and had our families mail our gloves to us. We have a dusty old field that floods out when it rains, so we have not had a lot of practices. Actually, we have only had one practice and we started a tournament yesterday. We played our first game last night at 4:30pm and gave the other team a run for their money, but lost by a couple of runs. This morning on Mother's Day we played another game at 8:00 am. This time, we lost really bad - by 20 runs. Hard to believe isn't it? Well, the important things is that we were all laughing and having fun. Wait, maybe the laughing was from the other team. That is okay, we did great! One thing that I asked someone today was - where else could you go to play softball and have people showing up carrying their weapons and in up-armored vehicles?

I have included some pictures of the game. To all the moms out there, have a happy Mother's Day!

The Baghdad Barristers!

Here I am swinging like I am trying to hit it out of the park, it was a line drive to 3d, which was caught...



Picture of the dugout and the tactical vehicle in the background.

Sand Storm Monday

So there we were, minding our own business, when it started getting very dark and orange outside. It is hard to explain unless you see it for yourself. So we decided to go outside to see what was going on. We took some pictures, now remember this is at about 2:00 pm and it lasted for about an hour and then cleared up. We could not see more than about 15 feet outside of the balcony. The sand was powdery and like baby powder. You could actually smell the dust in the air. It was a wierd experience.

SSG Garrett Harms takes pictures of the storm.

CPT Stephen Hernandez laughs at all the comotion and heads for cover.

Road Trip

Today was a very interesting day because I went to Abu Ghraib confinement facility in Iraq. You might have heard of this place in the news where a lot of detainee abuse occurred. Well, all that bad has been resolved for some time now and they are doing an excellent job there! CPT Mike Jones and I were able to visit the compound and have a guided tour. I cannot go into very much detail, but the people who are working the site are true professionals.

The day began with a mid morning flight by Blackhawk helicopter and we flew to a few other places first, one being Fallujah. Not the first place I would have picked to visit. We spent the majority of the day in the uniform above and did I mention that the temperature was close to 100 degrees? We drank close to a gallon of water throughout the day. CPT Marguerite Mogul was our tour guide, she has worked there for quite a while and she has a very demanding schedule. As she was showing us around, we met a lot of great people and were humbled by the experience. It is hard to see how hard these people live each and every day. After touring the part of the compound, we attended their staff meeting where Marguerite informed us that we were going to miss lunch. The look on Mike's face said exactly what I was thinking. We were hungry, but it would be at least another 4 hours before dinner. After the meeting, Marguerite took us back to her office where we had a Twix bar and some type of power bar for lunch. After lunch, we were back out visiting the other areas of the compound. It was a long be rewarding day there. We did not have a flight until later that evening, so we had a little time to kill, that is when we posed for the picture above. We were shown some of the less traveled areas of the base and then watched part of a movie at their "movie theater." Their movie theater is a laptop, projector, speakers, and a wall. There were people gathered around watching this movie for their entertainment. Before we knew it, it was time to head out for our flight. We walk over to the helipad in the dark and waited. While we were waiting, the rain began to fall, it was nice because we had been very hot all day.