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.