March 04 Stryker Brigade

L: Ryan and SFC Kane in Camp Udairi Kuwait the morning before we rolled into Iraq.

R: Forward Operating Base Rock. Originally this building was used as some terrorist barracks. Their goal was to overthrow Israel (they'd paint the Star of David on the floors so they could step on it which is an insult to Israel). C 1/8 IN from the 4th Infantry Division took over the compound during the war and my company inherited it from them in December 2003. By the time we left it actually had power and water but for the month and a half we lived there it wasn't much but we called it home.

L: The Iraqi Police station in the small town (I can't even remember the name right now) that was in our sector down in Balad. It went through at least three police chiefs that I know of because they were all corrupt. Maybe by now they've found a honest man for the job.

R: Our "Trophy Case" in front of The Rock. Captured enemy weapons and our Company Guidon to the right, all under the sign saying "Welcome to The Rock"

SPC Bostic and PFC Jiminez, two members of 2nd Platoon Weapons Squad pulling security on the back of a Stryker.

Me being goofy. I look pretty skinny though so I know it was from my time down in Balad when I was a hard working PL who didn't get much to eat. I'm fat again now!

L: SGT James making friends with the local sheep herders over our lunch break on a Traffic Control Point we set up along Highway 1. There is only one major interstate type road in Iraq. Highway 1 runs from Turkey to Kuwait along the Tigris river mostly and hits a lot of the major cities. Down in Balad our main mission was to protect and secure out section of this highway so we'd set up day long Traffic Control Points and inspect every vehicle passing by.

R: SFC Kane and SGT Long, our platoon Forward Observer, observing the sheep.

L: SPC Rincon, the gunner/vehicle commander of A24. He used to by my driver during NTC and JRTC (the two training centers we went to in the US before deploying) but was moved to a VC position once we came over to Iraq.

R: SSG Fa standing next to A24 after it rolled. During the winter the back country roads were all muddy and couldn't support the 22 tons of Stryker that we tried to drive on them. This was actually our very first day in sector. The recovery took 6 hours and eventually using two Bradley's towing and two Strykers winching we were able to get A24 out and drive it home.

Both pictures of the great members of 3-17 Cav pulling security for our convoy. The battalion is from the 10th Mtn Division but has been attached to us for our whole deployment. Their Kiowa Scout helicopters have .50 cal and rockets and they have provided us with all kinds of help on every type of mission we have done in Iraq. Never underestimate the importance of air assets.

This last picture is a classic. One of my guys from 2nd platoon using an antenna to scratch his crack. There is always more than one use for every piece of equipment.