First Post From Iraq

What a long strange trip it's been. Not sure exactly how long i've been here, nine days I think. We flew out of March Air Force Base in California and stopped in Topeka, KS; Redford, IL; Keflavik, Iceland; Hahn, Germany; and Camp Virginia, Kuwait before flying into Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. Here's a few pics from the trip, I didn't take out my camera until Kuwait, so no pics of Iceland or Germany, not like it matters, we didn't leave the holding area at the airports.

This is one of the guys I work with, Tim (GySgt Blanchard) passed out on one of our stops on the way here. I just thought it was funny with him holding the two M4 Rifles passed out.

This is me, just kind of standing around in Kuwait. Can't really tell from the picture, but the sand in Camp Virginia is about the consistency of baby powder. Every time you step it poofs up around your boots, the sand gets everywhere, nothing you can do about it. To make matters even more fun around 10 am every morning the wind starts blowing, and doesn't stop until late at night, so it's a constant sandstorm that doesn't make for much fun. They do have a nice PX though.

This is the dam. I'll be your dam guide. What you see is when they open the damn dam. No idea how damn tall the dam is, but it's pretty dam high. In the background you can see one side of the dam buildings, that go up eleven floors and each floor is pretty dam tall, so it's pretty dam big. They've opened the dam twice since i've been here, pretty dam nice site. Stinks a little though! This pic was taken from right behind my tech shop.

This is a view from the top of the dam. In the distance you can see a few of the cities we're responsible for. Hard to make them out during the day though, everything here is the same color. The flag you see tells us the heat index, or Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, obviously I took the picture early morning because it doesn't take long for the black flag to come out.

That's where I work, down there at the bottom! You can see some of the Marines going about their business. and the 7 Ton truck parked in front of the shop. Towards the right of the pic you can see the ramp behind the building we use to walk up to the top, it's quicker than the stairs, but let me tell you, my legs are going to be huge when I get home. My desk is at the back of that "building" so I sit right next to the river.

For now i'll leave you with this picture of Chuck Norris and myself in our chow hall inside the dam. That stupid grin on my face? I asked Chuck if he wanted to wrestle and they snapped the picture while I was still laughing.

Just remember these two things.

1) There is no chin under Chuck Norris' beard, just another fist.

2) There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.