So..I hope this finds everyone well. I am officially back in Baghdad and I am fighting the short timers disease. Although the end is near we still find that we have missions to complete and that they will probably carry out all the way to the end of our tour here in the armpit of the world…..lol. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed my time here. I have met some interesting locals who graciously shared their stories of what this place was like before we came over. I must say that this Saddam guy was a freak. I have had the privilege of touring the awesome country side of Iraq and although I would have taken more pictures I figured if you have seen one trash pile you have seen them all….lol. Really though, it is amazing to see how different this culture is to our own. I haven’t seen one house with windows or AC but every roof top seemed to have at least 5 satellites. What is up with that? We had the privilege working side by side with a platoon of Iraqi Army soldiers as they trained on Army carpentry and masonry techniques. That in itself was an adventure. Once you got past the language barrier I must honestly say we had a good time joking around. We introduced them to the wonderful game of American Football and I educated them on the greatest team in the NFL….The Dallas Cowboys….America’s Team. …and of course I had to fill them in the other great football team to follow…..The Fighting Texas Aggies. They soaked up all this knowledge and promised that they would share this with all their family and friends. I feel that I have truly served my country by sharing this awesome knowledge of our rich history.

We did finish our multi million dollar project which is of course why we are back in Baghdad. I will try and post some pics from the jobsite. I must say that I am grateful for this opportunity to learn the finer points of carpentry. I would say that one of the few points of interest that I got out of our Battalion Commanders speech…before I fell asleep…was that for finishing trim alone if you placed every piece end to end it was approximately 54 miles long. Of course that does not include wood used for wall studs, top plates, double top plates, bottom plates, roof trusses, plywood…etc etc. So I find that building 16 company areas, 21 barracks buildings, 2 battalion buildings, and a brigade was quite a feat for 5 months of work. Of course we also put up a clamshell building on the airfield as well. So by now you should be feeling impressed. No…well that’s ok….hahahahaha Well I have said enough for now. Pretty cool that I actually took time to write all this. Did that impress you….hahahaha Oh well, I tried. If I tell you anything else I will be violating OPSEC so that is it for now. Y’all take care and will see y’all in a few months. Bye and miss you and all that other stuff. And James….There better be some big red ice cream waiting when I get there….hahahaha. Take care all.

Mike