Hey Indie..... we have fire too.

Okay Okay, so it was a controlled burn. But as you can see, we have wildland fires too. We had to burn out a bunch of fields to clear them and all the critters made their way to the nearest tents and buildings. Those guys weren't so happy. James

Daniels Lied!

This was the first day we went out to rappell. There's Daniels right above me. He said it was 'fun' to walk your feet up the wall and let go with both hands (after tying off of course) HE LIED - not as much 'fun' as you would think. James

Rappelling.

Self portrait of me rappelling off the building next to the aircraft control tower. Only about 50 feet. We might get a chance to rappell off the tower itself. It's about 190 feet from the top. We will see, I may chicken out. At least I managed to not drop the camera. Nice nostrils huh? James

Grant Gimpel

Photo of Grant Gimpel. He's my new buddy from Duluth Minnesota. He is responsible for many of the nice photos taken while over here. James

He's just taking a break.

Gimpel took a photo of Steve slacking off again. Here he is kicked back in the smoke pit. James

That'll be nice.

Gimpel photo. This is what I'm looking forward too. 50-something days and counting. James

Look closely.

Really cool photo Grant Gimpel took at the Iraqi Fire Station. This is looking out through a bullet hole in the window. The Iraqis have these two dogs that hang out at the station eating handouts. They are wild and won't let you near them unless you are giving them food. The male kinda looks like Benji (spelling?). James

C-Webb, this is as close as you're gonna get.

G-squared photo. There, that is your scorpion. Hope you enjoy it. Unfortunately, this one lost a fight to a 'squat', some goofy rat/hedgehog hybrid, or something like that. James

Hangin out at the Iraqi's station.

G-squared photo, We were training with the Iraqis again and afterwards, we have lunch and tea at their station. Hoff looks excited, and Daniels is being Daniels. Nappy time. James

See, that is what I was talking about.

Photo from Gimple, He was out taking photos while I was hiding inside. This was back in January, right after we got here. Been pretty nice lately, were at the end of the rainy season, so hopefully no more weeks like that one. James

Iraqi Airlines 737 Eating my Hand.

Another photo from Gimpel, (I promised I would give credit). We did some training with the local firefighters the other day, and I thought this plane looked like a cartoon version from the front. There are several hundred million dollars worth of Iraqi airplanes just sitting on the ground in various conditions. This one just needs a little TLC and she could be flying again.... Oh yeah, some engines, a couple more tires, and maybe some windshields too. James

Better shot of the moon

This photo was taken by my buddy SSgt. Gimpel. He was kind enough to share his photos with us. He has a much nicer camera, and he obviously takes better pictures with it. James

Baby Blue C-130 for Jonny

I thought Jonny would like the color of this plane, probably Austin too. Well we just passed the halfway point and all is good. It's gonna be all downhill from here. Weather is in the mid 70's now almost every day. Pretty nice. Nights are still cool but not too bad. Happy Birthday to Poo-Dog tomorow. (He marked it for me on my calendar before I left, otherwise I would have forgotten.) No scorpions or camel spiders yet (sorry C-Webb) just a bunch of big black ants all over. Almost as big as termites. Mosquitos and flys are showing up too. Good Times. All else is good, looking forward to the twenty something hours on airplanes out of here. I know I'm a sissy, it's only 4 months, and the other services are here for a year or longer. Well, that's about all I've got for now. See you in a few. James

Full moon.

I was walking back to my tent after dinner when I noticed the moon was huge, and bright orange. I got my camera, but when I went to take a photo the batteries were dead. By the time I replaced them it was too dark for a good photo. That's the best one I could get. Too bad - so sad, that's all I've got for now. James

Big ass plane.

Pic. of one of the world's largest planes. Owned and built by the Russians. The crew got off and they were all wearing sandals. The pilot wasn't even wearing a shirt. Pretty strange. I don't know how something this big even gets in the air. They look like they are barely moving. I now see where all the gas is going. James

March 3rd.

Well I don't have any new photos that I can post yet so I will just ramble on for a few minutes. Nothing too exciting here. Still doing shifts on a crash truck, and pulling alarm room duty for another week or so. Breaks up the monotony though. The weeks are flying by. Weather is starting to get warmer. Insects are starting to show up a bit more too. Big-ass ants trying to make homes outside of the tents, hope they choose to stay out there. Still get the occasional rain that turns the ground to nasty mud in a hurry. It dries up for about a week, then starts all over again. I heard it is going to get pretty hot in another month or so. Not sure what's worse, mud or 100 plus temperatures. Almost to the halfway point, will be nice to come home to the beginning of summer in Reno. Julie doesn't like to shovel snow. Late snow again. Steelers cut Joey Porter, but I still love them. Okay, don't know what else to write. I have to go back on guard duty in an hour, so I'll write more when I have something interesting (at least less boring) to write. James