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...

Day 11: Safety Safety Safety

0900: Walking down the hall, I passed the Safety Bulletin Board. Basically, when someone has any type of accident involving an injury, some person working up at Brigade puts together a PowerPoint Slide in order to "inform others" and "mitigate future risks". I think we are almost at 100 slides now...

1000: Admiring SSG Ortiz's very CAV-ED out safety helmet. Really? Really.

1100: Mail arrived! CANDY AND PROTEIN BARSSSSSSS!

1200: That is tomatoes and bits of bacon covered in some type of dressing... I don't know what its called, but it tastes like it looks....

1300: PFC Dinatale washing one of the trucks because... well... I'm really not sure why hes doing it. Good Work!

1400: The Trick or Treat Drawer.. I'll give this drawer about 24 hours before all of the candy is missing...

1500: More CAV flair!!! 

1600: LT Hjelle and LT Bunt in a deep discussion of whether werewolves are superior to vampires.. True Blood and Twilight have ruined these "warriors".

1700: "Ohhhh the humanity!"

1800: What a fine assortment of delicious flavored milk! 

2000: Matt "Getting ready for the gym". What a chump.

2100: CPT White  is crushing those Triceps! Meanwhile, Matt is serenading his reflection in the background...

2200: Its just a side job, no big deal... 

2300: Matt "working on his diet......" I'm pretty sure that those are Low-Fat Chips Ahoy, for his sake and Julie's.... 

Day 10: J.W.Bean's Coffee Shop

0900: Shopping for Army Equipment...basically we get a certain amount each month to buy new equipment... think Amazon.... kinda.

1000: SSG O'Reilly reading Stars and Stripes outside of J.W.Bean's Coffee Shop....

1100: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Falafel. 

1200: Chow! I don't think we'll ever run out of condiments here.... ever.

1300: Matt "screwing" around.... See what I did there?  I made a funny....
Okay, I'm sorry....

1400: Some days this keyboard  is my battlefield.. Today was definitely one of those days.

1500: Proper typing technique, my mom would be so proud.

1600: Matt is just super excited to be back at work following his run.

1700: Apparently, our JSS has been taken over by kittens... 

1800: Jacked Iraqis working on the JSS... This guy is quite possibly the most jacked guy I've seen here...
Hes all about the GTL...

1900: Relaxing for a minute, or maybe 30.

2000: Cleaning my M4... It has def been a while since I've cleaned it last..

2100: Creepy picture hanging in the gym... I have no idea where it came from... 

2200: Catching up on quite possibly the best show ever...