Day 15: Meeting and a Promotion Ceremony

0900: Waiting by the trucks for the start of a mission.

1000: The Federal Police Intel officer that I meet with was still sleeping, so I helped finish up some of his work..

1100: A quick shot of some Blackhawks flying over our position.

1200: Several NCOs helping SPC Patterson study for the NCO Board. 

1300: Look at this gaggle of warriors.

1400: The XO doing his thing.

1500: The very last picture taken of SGT Hill before his promotion to SSG!

1600: Bandit Troop, in formation, waiting for the start of the Promotion Ceremony.

1700: Captain White addressing his Troopers.

1730: This sunset was too gorgeous not to capture!

1800: The XO is on the prowl..

1900: Paid a visit to LT Stoddard, look how sparkly clean his gear is! I'm going to have to throw some dirt on it!

2000: Dusty the Cat hopped out at me and was just begging for attention.... Silly Kitten

Day 14: A day late and a dinar short..

0900: And I'm just super excited to be here... at a desk... working.

1000: Quite possibly the best sign in the entire JSS. If you don't quite understand this reference than you have something to search for on YouTube.

1100: MORE PROTEINNNNNNNNNN!

1200: Soldiers hanging around the Bazaar/PX.

1300: SGT Hill and the XO "working".

1400: Coffee = Soldier Fuel...... Dunkin Donuts? Delicious. Starbucks? Delicious!

1500: Bunker and T-Walls....  I can't wait to leave it all.

1600: Oh, apparently we have rules around here...

1700: Juicehead. 

1800: Cleanin' my gat, yo.

1900: Halloween exists in Iraq, yet instead of scantily clad women, we get nearly naked men.

2000: AHHH SSG Kerkhoff!

2100: The Widow Maker....

Day 13: Cows in Baghdad?

 

0900: Not much going on this morning, so I decided to take a quick picture of an exit sign... Ooh!

1000: Breakfast/Brunch.... I made a "Bacon Buddy" which is comprised of 4 pieces of bacon on an English muffin.... Healthy? probably not, thats why I ate two...

1100: On our patrol to conduct some meetings, we passed a Federal Policeman at a check point speaking with a civilian.

1200: LT Bunt walking down some rickety stairs following our meeting.

1300: Checking on a canal cleaning project that we are working on... A few weeks ago, this entire canal was filled with garbage and overgrown with vegetation... The canal is slightly better now, but, unlike this guy fishing,  I really wouldn't want to eat any fish from it.. 

1400: Speaking with a local shopkeeper about the canal and his neighborhood. The Federal Police Sergeant behind me is def trying to look tough for this picture.

1500: On the ride back to the JSS, we passed a bunch of cows..... Kinda weird for the middle of the city, but hey.. whatever makes them happy.

1600: Matt helped me out and snapped a quick picture of me sleeping... kinda creepy, but now we're even.

1700: Matt was demonstrating how to identify sexual harassment situations in the workplace... Yikes.

1800: Thats a whole lot of soda.... 

1900: SGT Backstrom laying down the law and putting the XO in his place.... I think Matt is crying in this one.

2000: Good Work Matt.

2100: This is how we celebrate Halloween in Iraq... Wooo its out of control!

2200: Matt's running shoes... If you look closely, you can tell that they are two different shoes, but he swears that he bought them like this. 

Day 12: Helicopters, Safety Flyers, and CAKE!

0900: Watching some helicopters land at the JSS. Quite possibly the coolest thing ever.

1000: Remember how I mentioned Safety Flyers yesterday? Well, I was curious to see just how many flyers have been created since we arrived in Iraq last December. The answer? 98. 

1100: What you are looking at here is the HALL OF SAFETY. 98 safety slides meant to distract, confuse, and inform anyone walking by. Pretty pointless informative!

1200: Watching some helicopters take off. Not gonna lie, I def wish I was a pilot.

1300: The Hall of Safety is SSG Kerkhoff approved! See that smile? Thats the smile of someone who's brain is overloaded with safety knowledge! Just to be safe, we took his bullets away from him.

1400: Matt hard at work...

1500: Black Water = Poo Water.... Gross.

1600: Walking up to Squadron. I think those Port-o-potties will end up getting  painted red and white...

1700: Meeting time! The work day is only just starting back on the East Coast!

1800: Those boots aren't meant for walking.... they're meant for sitting in meetings. Woo!

1900: CPT White and LT Ervin with some cake... I still can't believe they ate four pieces of cake each! Man thats pathetic impressive.

2000: Four lieutenants. Two are talking about mission-related issues, and the other two are discussing who their favorite character on the Hills is.... I'm not even making this up...

2100: Getting huge!

2200: SGT Hill and LT Ervin having a heart-to-heart about their future plans.... Some people just don't understand that the gym is for lifting weights, not heartfelt conversations...