Diyala

I arrived Thursday at FOB Warhorse, my new home for the next year. I think that I am joining a great team of Ag folks here. There are about 5 or 6 of us that work on ag. I will try to get some pictures of my humble abode up sometime this week.

Dust Storm

The wind has been blowing pretty hard here the past few days. Hard enough to prevent me from getting out of Baghdad. Now the wind has died down some but the dust is so fine that it is just hanging in the air like a fog. I can barely see to the end of the block. The air smells like dust, it tastes like dirt and you can feel the grit on your teeth. It is one of the weirdest things I have ever experienced.

Here is another picture of me under some big swords. Supposedly the arms are modeled after Saddam's.

Life in Baghdad

Every morning at 0530 I wake up to the sound of the Imams calling people to prayer. It is exactly like what you've heard every movie you have seen that is set in the Middle East. It is pretty cool and who doesn't need a reminder to talk to the Big Man Upstairs every now and then.

I then head to the palace for training of one kind or another. The palace is the former Royal Palace of Saddam Hussein. It is very ornate to the point of being gaudy and some of the light fixtures look like they have been taken right out of the 1970's.

The food here is very good and Wednesday is steak and lobster night, no kidding. At night I have been going to movies played in the basement of the palace, I mean what kind of dictator would go without a 45 seat theater with leather seats in his palace.

That's life in Baghdad which is not my permanent home, that would be the lovely province of Diyala and hopefully I will get there early next week.

Check out my photo with General Petraeus!

Baghdad Brewster

Sun, Sand and Palm trees!!! Like many other place that have sun and sand, I also get complementary food and beverage, free shuttle serveice to and from the airport and I get to go to work in a palace.

As you can tell my arrival here in Baghdad went as smooth as could be expected.
They did let me know that they changed my assignment, I will be stationed in the Diyala (dee-alla) provence. It is north east of Baghdad between it and the Iranian border. I will spend about a week in Baghdad before I leave for my PRT. I will hopefully get some great pictures of the sights of the city and post them.

Ryan