Went to Balad recently. It was interesting, but sandstorms kept me there longer than I had wanted. The 3d Med guys at the Jameson Schoolhouse took very good care of me. It is a nice post, big pool, nice PX and bazaar. They do get mortared more than we do, so therein lies the rub. I did get to see what happens when an F-16 crashes. Here is what it looks like:

Here is the door gunner on my Blackhawk (yes, that's Kenny on his helmet).
And the new hole in my trailer.

This is a snap of the Rhino. It is used to shuttle us to & from the IZ on Route Irish.

And the escorts. Note that the all-terrain HMMWVs have been turned into lowriders by the armor.
And the new ambulance, slat armor and all.

And finally some birds playing in the mirror of one of our trucks.

Independence Day: my last federal holiday in Iraq! One of my soldiers was naturalized today at the al Faw palace. John McCain was the guest speaker and it was a mob scene as a consequence. I went, but didn’t stay because I could not see. Here are photos of the palace and the Senator:
They had an MRAP on hand; what for, I don’t know. It has a robotic arm to uncover IEDs, a hot arm to detonate heat activated EFPs, and slat armor to defeat RPGs.

We had a dining-in at the palace on the 2nd. It was a bit of fun and I was in a skit where I played the General. Nothing like lampooning your two-star for career advancement.
We had an attack a few days ago. I was in my room reading A.C. Clark (thanks, Andrew & Lee) when it happened. There were about 15 small arms rounds that came over into Dodge City, one of which went straight through my trailer. It sounded like a firecracker. I won’t be home soon enough!