Qatar (pronounced KA-tar)

Finally! I'm halfway to the halfway point (does that make sense?). Anyway, I was able to go on my 4-day pass in Qatar with some friends. Had a blast...


Here's the aircraft that took us there from Baghdad. It felt like it was 300 degrees on that C130 while we waited for the pallets to be loaded and the sand storm to clear.


Once I got down there, I got a chance to get out and go on a tour of the city.

Here's a shot of a local market.

This is a view of the city near the mall. The city is very modern and really clean and there's a lot of construction going on.

One of the tours I went on was a water sports tour. They took us out on a boat and parked in the bay off the city of Doha. We spent the day running the jet skis and being pulled behind the speedboat on an innertube.

Here's a picture of the boat where we ate lunch and relaxed when we weren't on the water.

A view of the city skyline from the Persian Gulf.

At night, we just hung out at the USO facility on the base. It was great to just relax and "kick it" with friends. Yes, that's a beer (sorry Mom!)

Obviously I had a good time. Here's a shot of me on the flight back to Baghdad.

We're Doing Alright Here

Here on our FOB, we're able to fly a flag in someone else's honor, then give it to them along with an official certificate. On this day, I flew this flag in honor of my employer and the tremendous support I get from them. One of the NCOs on my team is assisting me.

This is a view from our TOC (tactical operations center). Sometimes the evenings here are very nice. The other picture is just a UH60 Blackhawk landing at our LZ (landing zone).

A couple of views from one of our guard towers. One is part of our FOB, the other is a view outside of our perimeter.

This is a view of Martar's Monument here in Baghdad. The other is a view from on of our towers through binoculars.

Good times

Not much going on around here lately. Here are some pictures of some recent things.

Small world! I ran into SSG Gonzales from my unit back home. She was deployed over here about the same time as me. I was sitting in our vehicle, and I noticed the patch on her left sleeve. I remember thinking "That patch sure looks familiar...hey, that's my unit patch from back home! I know her! That's SSG Gonzales!" We spent a few minutes catching up. It was great to talk to someone from home.

Recently, my daughter and some of her close friends got together to have pizza and build a care package to send me. I was extremely surprised and grateful. Thanks to all the girls (and their parents who helped her put this together!

Nothing exciting here; just me sitting at my desk late one night catching up on emails.

Here's a view of the MoI (Ministry of Interior) and the checkpoint we go through to get on and off the FOB.

Here's a view of our TOC (tactical operations center) as viewed from my desk.

Oh yeah. This is one of our vehicles, and we call it Ghetto Fabulous. I was backing it up recently, and there was a tree behind the vehicle. I couldn't see it because of the armored cage in the back, and I managed to back the vehicle right into a tree branch and broke the window. Well, it's not like we can take the vehicle into the shop to have a new window installed, so me and another guy were able to build a new window using plexiglass. I think it looks awesome, but not many share my opinion.