There really isn't much travel between camps as it's always a little dangerous to outside the wire. When we do travel from camp to camp, one has to wear full helmet and flak vest. The older flak vests weighed about 60lbs or so while the newer ones weigh half that. And while traveling a hardened or armored vehicle is used. It's just an improved Suburban, but improved to about $100,000 each!

People can be odd when it comes to taking pics. A couple of people in these pics were adament that I could not take their pics. But when I asked to take a pic with them their attitude changed 180. The other problem is that you'd be surprised how often per second a person sticks his tongue out or blinks. It's done so often that we don't really notice it but the camera captures it all the same. Also, everyone over here has a story, some are running from something or 'needed' to pay off debt. One guy in the pics, needed about $300,000 to pay off debt. How the heck does someone accumulate $300,000 in debt that you could not claim bankruptucy! I don't know but he did. Another person here had a son die over here. So he's doing his part. Funny thing too when I asked to take a pic with him he grabbed me and pulled me closer for the pic. He'd never have done that otherwise. Arisbeth also was more than happy to take a pic of me. She too pulled me close and pressed her head against my cheek. Go figure...

Iraq and the middle east area is where the domestic cat originated. One of the original species is the sand cat and it's an endangered species still here in Iraq. They're beautiful animals and you can even buy one on the black market in the states. The problem is that they're still wild animals and when they grow up they act wild. Sand cats are also known for being very good leapers.

These cats are checked by a vet and then released to an area where they may live.

For dogs however, the future is not as bright. Islam does not like dogs. The stray dogs around the camp can become very aggressive and can carry diseases. Since very few Iraqis have dogs and don't want a dog being a dog can suck in Iraq. The puppies here are on their way to a short visit with the vet.

Moisturize, it's really one of the best things you can do for your skin. It's especially important in the dry air of Iraq and it's important to use a sunscreen . So here's a pic of me that's not especially a good pic, nor is it that bad. It just is. In the back, you can see my hooch. A hooch is where you live. It's about 8 x 20 and includes a shower and toilet. One of these days I can see someone stacking about a hundred hooches together and on top of each other and renting them them out to city dwellers. They're really about all you need.

Today we had a sandstorm come in. This one wasn't as magnificant as the sandstorm in Al Asad last year that made the national news in the states but it was still impressive. You could see the storm come from far off and from the one pic below you can see that a sandstorm is essentially a wall of sand swirling about hundreds of feet high into the air. All of this sand in the air can literally block the sun out but as you can see from the other pic here that wasn't the case today. Also everything takes on an eery orange in the midday.




The air is really pretty calm until the sand storm hits the you pretty much run inside since sand will get everywhere. It's not worth it to drive or fly or do anything. Everything is pretty much at a standstill until the storm passes.

This sandstorm was also supposed to produce rain but it didn't. When it does rain during a sandstorm, it's like raining mud.