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.

Catching up

As you might have noticed, it has been a while since I have updated the blog. Sorry.

I have a lot to share over the last month, so this entry may be a little long... Let me start out with reminding how important it is to back up your files. If you have not heard, my computer crashed and I lost all my pictures that I had taken over the first three months here; I was devistated. I was able to salvage a few that I had saved and sent to others, but not the original files. So, I am a little behind in a lot of areas.

Since last time, I went to see the Charlie Daniels Band starring Ruth Vetter; our office had the Judge Advocate General of the Army stop by for a visit and we had a luau; I have flown to Balad, Iraq and stayed for two nights, other than that, it has been pretty regular here.

We received word that the Charlie Daniels Band would be performing in our area. About the same time, CPT Ruth Vetter who works with us was notified that she would be performing with them at the concert. She was thrilled and began practicing immediately. I have included a picture of her during her performance.




We had our Article 6 visit from the Judge Advocate General of the Army and his staff. They visit to see how our operation is functioning and how they can help us accomplish our mission better with less resistance from the D.C. crowd. It was a day of briefs and discussions, however, at the end of the day, we held a luau with a live band and we had the place decorated up.



Two days after they left, I went on a trip to Balad to help out the new legal administrator there with whatever I could. I arrived the last day of their Article 6 visit and was able to farewell the TJAG and staff for their departure back to D.C. The next day we were able to get to work and covered a long list of items that needed some teamwork to solve. After that was done, I was given a windshield tour of the base and later that night, we went to the movies. Yes, I said movies. Hard to believe isn't it? It was a nice break from the normal day to day. The next night, we planned on going to the movies again, however, it was cancelled because of mortar rounds falling out of the sky. We were not in the direct area, but we kept down anyway. I flew back early the next morning back to Camp Victory.

Two days ago, I took a trip to the US Embassy in Baghdad. It is the formal presidential palace that Saddam worked out from. It is pretty nice and reminded me a lot of the pentagon with all the civilians wearing security badges and all the construction going on there. I visited an old friend, LTC Celtnicks. We worked together back at Fort Stewart Georgia back in 1995. While at the embassy, we stopped by the swimming pool just to see it and at the coffee shop. We then had work to do and were able to get everything done before our flight out that afternoon. It was HOT HOT HOT! The temperatures are rising to the 100s.

In case you were not aware, my camera broke about a month and a half ago and I have been having withdrawls ever since. Well, Margi was kind enough to mail it back to me last week and I have felt like I need to get out and take some pictures.

That is all for now, but will try to update more often, no guarentees.

Scott

Got camera back.