Blogs from Iraq, Middle East - page 9

Well, here is the first sand storm since I've made my return here. It was pretty thick, but not as thick as I saw last time I was here. I'm sure there will be plenty more time for some more of these to come on down! It seems almost as if you are standing in a sci-fi movie, on some distant planet. It seems incredible that people have lived through these for thousands of years and never once complained about it. Well, I'm sure some have, just like the English complain about their rain. Check out the oics, that's me!... read more

Hello all, from what you have gathered from my few entries so far, I seem to spend more time traveling to some of the world's least turisty places rather than the major destinations. This is my second tour of duty in Iraq, and I must say that four years apart the area has changed little. I am in the south, near the ancient ruins of the city of Ur, and the magnificient Ziggurat. It was very nice to be remembered by the curator of the ruins four years after I last saw him. I was very nervous that the war might have seriously affected him and his family; to my relief, it seems that the horrors of war have made little impact on the daily lives of the people in this region, and that there is ... read more

A buddy of mine recently sent me this question. Hey Tony, I was wondering if there was any particular items you recommend getting for deployment. I thought perhaps there are some useful things i'll need that aren't necessarily general knowledge. Thanks, I started writing a response to this and it got to be so long that I got to thinking. I'm sure there are a ton of guys out there that have similar questions. I know I did. Bring a digital camera with a pelican case. Get a good camera. You'll be taking lots of pic and vids. And get a pelican 1010 case. That's usually the right size for most point and click cameras. Don't buy a big camera though, stay compact. I have an Olympus 720 Waterproof/Shockproof compact camera. It was a present ... read more

Hello Friends, It has been an eventful month. Promoted I was promoted to Sergeant (SGT) on Jan 1. That's a big step in the Army. That's when you go from being a soldier to a leader of soldiers. In the Army, SGT is considered a non-commissioned officer (NCO). When you become an NCO, your status changes to reflect the leadership position that you probably already fill. Typically, a SGT is responsible for four enlisted soldiers, which mya not seem like much; but with all the stuff we do both in the field and back on the FOB, keeping track of four guys can be a handfull. Wounded While pulling security on a mission this month, we took enemy small arms and machine gun fire. I obviously can't tell you all the details, but I was shot ... read more

These are pictures of a neighborhood that one of the guys I work with took, the last few are of the kids that live there.... read more