A 40YO in Iraq: May 2007

I did the DANCON March a few days ago with about 2,000 other people and I had a lot of fun doing it. Some of the young hot shots ran it, carried their rucksacks, or wore their IBA; but most of us just walked. It was a bit like a volksmarch and the participants were all having a grand time. I took 4 hours and 8 minutes to do the 20 kilometers. We started at 0500. I caught a dragonfly sleeping on the way to the march.

We were issued chemlights because it was dark out and at least one soldier found a creative use for them.

Here is a snap of Sam and Charissa as we walked by the lake on our second lap. I spent most of the march with them.

And here I am about 1 mile from the finish. I was feeling a bit dizzy, but all of that “dizzy training” in college really paid off!

Here is the Al Faw palace across the lake and a minaret.

And the payoff! My medal:

And my blister!

Toby Keith was on Camp Victory a few days ago. We had a mortar during the opening act, but the C-RAM engaged it and it landed without detonating. The guy singing jumped out of his skin, but the soldiers just cheered. We had seats right up front. Here are some pix:

The crowd waits.

And grows.

Here is the Brew Crew with the big boss.

And here’s Toby.

And the mess afterward.

Almost my birthday, so I thought I might try and put something beautiful in my little bit of cyberspace. I was at the surgeons' conference in the Al Faw palace last week, and I managed to get some pix.

Here is a pic of the doors inside the palace. The design says Al Faw in Arabic and they are about 10 feet high.

This is the ceiling of the ballroom. It is carved and painted plaster, really gorgeous work.

And the atrium. Kind of fuzzy, but what the heck…

Here are some flowers I found. Most of them came from a parking lot in the IZ where they had thirteen rockets land the day before.

And a lizard from the front door of our HQ. He was really cute!

Wow! Less than 100 days left in Iraq! I’ll be stuck in Kuwait for 15 days or so before I fly home, but at least no one is shooting at you there, and I’ll be able to catch up with my troops I left down there when I moved to Baghdad. But I really cannot wait to see my family in the states! I think the entire task force is done and everyone is counting down the final days of the deployment.

Below are some snaps of the C-RAM shooting. It is really much more impressive than the pictures show; maybe my wife will let me get one when I get home. Rumor is that it costs a quarter million every time it shoots.