March update

So, I haven't worked on this for quite a while.  I think mostly because the newness of everything has worn off.  I'm mostly confined to this base where I think I've seen everything there is to see.  Megan tells me that I should take pictures anyway and keep sending them.  So here goes.

The above picture is of one of the helicopters that flies around all the time.  I just think it's cool.  It's like the helicopter on Magnum PI.  This picture also demonstrates my picture taking prowess, notice how I managed to catch the helo at the exact moment it crossed behind a powerline.  Genius!

This is some great marksmanship on my part.  This is not staged. . .I'm really that good.

Here are a few shots of the tree that fell over on my front door one night.  The next morning the grounds crew cut it up and hauled it away before I could get a picture in the light.

This is some of my co-worker's idea of a joke.  Apparently they see me as a fat, angry baby.

This is me humoring them.

A few shots of some Kiowas that were flying around.

One day I came out of my office for lunch and the treehouse was in a pile.

By that evening the tree house was vanquished and the tree was free to live it's treeful life.

Here's (left to right) CPT Orcutt, 1LT Seckel and 1LT Hodgkinson sucking on some hookah pipes in a back-alley hookah den.

CPT Johnson was there too and in addition to the pipe he was getting smashed on near-beer.

This is the dinner I had in the back-alley hookah den.  Some traditional Iraqi food.  They use a lot of oil and vinegar in their cooking.

A couple of pictures of me in said back-alley kookah den. . . I didn't inhale.

This is what happens when you hit a stationary concrete barrier that sits about 3 feet high at high speed in an armored truck.  I can't really say anymore, the pictures say a lot.

A whole lot of sandbags.

Some shots of a couple Blackhawks that landed on base taking off.

Footprints on the toilet seat.  You can take the Iraqi out of the Red Zone but he still squats on the toilet seat.  This is why the West is technologically superior.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  This is Samir.  He's the guy that found Saddam Hussein in the spider hole.  You can google his name and the incident and find pictures of him with the dictator.  Apparently he gave Saddam a pretty good beating.  Anyway, he lives here on this post.

I recently informed all of the Local National Vendors on the FOB that they have to leave in June.  This sparked some promotions, like the tailor is having a big close out seal.  I'm not sure if seals can survive in this climate.  I'm going to buy everyone t-shirts from this guy that say "who's your baghdaddy" by the way.  Lame.

We found a couple of hours to go to the range the other day.  Here's Mike Wigen loading up.

Here's Wigen slinging lead.

The victims of our rage.

I'm not sure where the Mickey Mouse target came from.  It's really sort of sick.

We borrowed an AK-47 for fun. . . and it was.

Say what you want, this is tax dollars well spent.

The most widely proliferated weapon in the world ladies and gentlemen!  For revolutions, jihads, peasant uprisings, and full on terrorism, this little dandy is easy to produce and even the illiterate can learn to use it in a couple of minutes!  Accept no substitute!  Thanks Russia. . .

Oh well, it was a good time.