"And the story concludes..."

I write this entry from the comfort of my family's home in San Diego, CA. It's very surreal being back home, and a little overwhelming. However, there is no other place I would rather be than the USA.

I want to sincerely thank all of you that have been keeping up with my posts, throwing in comments, signing the guestbook, sending me e-mails, etc. It really meant a lot to hear from all of you while I was out there, and I'll never forget the support. Also, please remember there are still thousands of American troops in Iraq, serving in harms way on a daily basis. Please also keep them in your thoughts and prayers, along with the families that have lost thier love ones serving in Iraq.

There are so many other things I wanted to share about this experience that I couldn't really describe through this blog. I'll save those for later, and share them over a beer sometime! Take care everybody!!!!!!!!

-Capt Ran H.

"Wrapping it up; Part I: long scenic trip to Baghdaddy, Part II: exploring the ancient monastery in Mosul, Part III: priceless souvenir, and Part IV: stealing a Russian tank..."

Part I: Scenic trip to Baghdaddy

This is the home stretch for me. I have one week left in country, and I'm trying to "lighten" things up during the rest of my stay here. I left Tal Afar during the last week of October, and spending the rest of my time back in Mosul before I leave for Kuwait. Had one more mission in Baghdad, which consisted of a 5 hour helo flight down, two nights in Camp Victory, and another 5 hour flight back. Most of the flight was between 300-500 feet above the deck, so a lot of amazing site seeing. We also had a few stops along the way for lunch, and refueling.

Here's me and my team (aka The H-Men: MAJ O'Neill, me, Capt Schuyler, and Ray taking the photo), waiting at Mosul.

One of our stops was a new prison, that the US is refurbishing for the Iraqis. Camp Suse, a high security prison, sits around a mountainous area in the middle of the boonies. The view up here reminded me of the scene of Rohan from The Two Towers. Anyway, we stopped there for some lunch. Since we were traveling with a Colonel, we had a nice tour of the prison. Sorry, no pictures inside, but you can see it in the background below.

The H-Men at a refueling stop in Kirkuk... BTW, the I-Pod served as my ear plugs... music made the flight a little more exciting

Western Baghdad neighborhood...

The fancy agency I deployed for decided it was important for all of the teams around Iraq to get together for one weekend for some "team building" activities. Anyway, I did everything to get out of this trip (since I'm so short on time), but wasn't too successful. The upside to the trip was hanging out with my guys one last time, be obnoxious during our visit to Victory, and see the country side. The commander also gave me a nice little going away gift for my work in Iraq. Our last night in Baghdad was spent at a BBQ with fake beer (non-alcoholic) and Cuban Cigs.

It was nice to see everybody again before I left. Flying back to Mosul was brutal. There was one stretch of the trip where the right 50mm gunner lit something up in the distance (most likely target practice). It wasn't really that much of a highlight at that point, since we were pretty exhausted.

Here's me taking a nap at Balad Air Base (Camp Anaconda), one of three stops; and "Skyler" and I waiting for our departure... we were frggin beat.

another wingman photo...

Part II: Exploring the Ancient Christian Monastery

In an earlier blog posting, I shared a trip exploring around the boonies of Camp Marez in Mosul. I mentioned an old monastery, but never had a chance to explore it. We were lucky enough to get keys to the gate surrounding the place. It wasn't until we were done exploring that I did a google search for "Monastery, Camp Marez".

Here's what came up:

Dair Mar Elia (St. Elijah Monastery)

http://www.post-trib.com/walsh/walsh020605.html

The link above will get you more info on the monastery, and here are pictures of us, goofing around...

It was neat to be tooling around in a 6th century structure, with no tour guide to yell at us. One of us (yours truly) got stuck on barbed wire a foot away from a three story underground coal pit... that would have sucked big time if I fell in, but thankfully it didn't happen.

Part III: The souvenir

We've started a tradition to find a nice trophy to take home with us. War trophies are no longer allowed (weapons, munitions, etc)... but certain things can be considered fair game. There is an Iraqi War Bunker out in the boonies at Camp Marez. Here's what I ended up with...

Now, you're maybe thinking... great job Ran, a light. But this one is "up armored" to protect it from explosions, shrapnel, you name it. Very old design (possibly from WWII era, made in Germany, with German writing), and... it used to light up one of Saddams old war bunkers in Mosul, Iraq. Something you can't buy at a Haji shop, or on Ebay, and it will make a nice conversation piece one day as it hangs in my garage, or backyard of my future house... so there!

Part IV: Stealing a Russian tank...

This is self explanatory... in the end, it was great to spend a day messing around... as opposed to working.

By the time I leave, I will have been in country 110 days. I'm looking forward to coming home, but can't help but feel a little apprehensive in terms of getting back to my "normal life"... if there is such a thing after this experience. I'm very anxious catching up with all of you when I come home. Thanks for sticking with me throughout this deployment and checking out the blog. It really means a lot to hear from friends during my time out here, and I appreciate the motivation and words of encouragement. Your thoughts and prayers really made the difference during the difficult times, so thank you all.

My next entry will hopefully be from Kuwait, or better yet, the USA! Wish me luck; my next stop from Kuwait will be El Paso, then Southern Cali to see my family, then NYC to see my one and only Gina, whom I missed more then anything! The more I think about my vacation, the longer the days are draggin, so I have to stay focused... until my next entry, see you then!

I'm missing so much back home right now... weddings, parties, birthdays... you name it. 4 months isn't really a long time considering what the other services are normally making their troops serve, but you definitely get that foul taste of missing the good times that you would normally share with the ones you care about the most. Anyway... I'm still here, and all I can do now is focus on getting back home. Here is the scoop...

I'm 27 days out from leaving this place, and the more I think about being back in the US, the longer the days are going by.  I'm sick as a dog over some cold bug I caught hanging around in Mosul, cant seem to shake it, and I've had the hardest time finding a single cough drop ANYWHERE. However, I did find just a handful at the chapel yesterday... thanks to whoever left them for me.

I spent a week back at Mosul; we had incoming mortars early one morning, close enough to notice but far enough to shrug off. Suicide car bomb hit a Stryker in the city, and things are generally not safe right now. Just a gentle reminder to some of you that thought I was having a "good time" out here... the truth is this place is very depressing; ask anyone who's been here.

Iraqi elections are one week from today. Everyone is stressed out, edgy, and the operations tempo is extremely high. Concrete barriers and T-walls are being set up throughout Tal Afar and Mosul, with the intent of protecting citizen voters from insurgent attacks. We have numerous convoys going out preparing the cities with added security.  There are ads everywhere, encouraging people to vote... "Vote for Iraq" is the popular slogan. This next week will be big in terms of our future involvement in this country. A "yes" vote on passing the Iraqi Constitution can possibly give our leadership the leverage to continue planning our troop withdrawal. A "no" vote will most likely dissolve the current Iraqi government, set up new elections to choose new leaders, then to go through the entire constitution draft process yet again (which took almost a year). At that point, who knows what the security situation will be like. 

On a positive note (kind of), its cooling down. Highs are only in the 90s and the evenings are a cool 60s. Flip side to that would be the sand flies around the base feasting on people. When the Iraqi Battalions were working out of our base, they left so much trash that rats are literally having field days. I've seen one walking around one night; I could have sworn it was going to say something to me (as big as a puppy, but a tad uglier). Rats bring in the sand flies, and the flies bring in Leishmaniasis... a nasty disease caused by a parasite. This is definitely not something I need when I'm just about ready to leave... therefore, I now use DEET (insect repellent) instead of soap! Well, not really, but you get the idea.

Alright, here's one picture from my daily base rounds... the sand you see here will turn into thick mud/clay shortly when it rains... not looking forward to it at all. The only way to mitigate mud is to dump tons of gravel on the roads, which has been such a high commodity for many of these FOBs, including ours.

I've cut back on photo's lately, because there isn't really anything new for you all to see. Every day has been like ground hog day... wake up, go to work, eat, work, sleep, and start over the next day. One thing that breaks the monotony is FOOTBALL! Thank goodness for the NFL, and dare I say GO SD CHARGERS! Too bad for my friends back in New England... the Pats had it coming to them... however, I might be speaking too soon since Monday Night Football could prove me wrong as the Bolts play the Steelers... I'll be watching it real time on the Armed Forces Network over here (but I have to get up at 0400!)... If we're loosing, I'll just go back to sleep and pretend it was a bad dream.

People tell me when I get back from this place, it will seem as if this was all a bad dream ... talk to ya soon!

For those of you that haven't forgotten about us over here, you might have heard that Tall Afar has been in the news lately. This was a moment for the Iraqi Army to shine (as they take the city back from insurgents), and they have been doing so with our help... things have been hectic the past few weeks up here.  

As for me, I'm about 7 weeks out from leaving this place. Time is finally starting to move fairly quickly for me, and a lot of it is attributed to staying busy. I had some time to relax a bit when a fellow AF buddy came up to visit for a few days. My base falls under his line of oversight, and he's never been up here before. I've posted pictures of this desolate place earlier in my blog, but there are some things worth doing if you ever come out here!

 Like, for example, vandalizing old Iraqi guard bunkers...

Then, you can do some off-road rallying in a Chevy Tahoe (again, my Non Tactical Vehicle... hooah!), and make your way on a hill that presents a majestic view over our base...

Then, try and figure out why YOU could be wrong...

 We tried to do some detective work, to determine how in the world did this truck get knocked over. There was a tank tread right next to it, but we thought... "Nah, someone must have decided the truck works better sideways". Lesson learned: stay AWAY from the tanks... AWAY!

Now, the last time I was here, we witnessed a Paladin (self propelled howitzer) discharge a few rounds. This time, the NCOIC of one particular Paladin let my buddy and I crawl around it. Needless to say, these guys spend A LOT of time sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing until they get orders to fire suppressing artillery shells. So, they were more then happy to show off their jobs to two dorky Air Force dudes driving around in our Chevy Tahoe Non Tactical Vehicle...hooah... (only ONE inside picture for OPSEC). Needless to say, they don't get a lot of visitors very often, and they love to show off what they do!

The soldier to the left does munitions, the soldier above is the gunner, the soldier to the right is the section commander for this particular gun, and the dork in the middle is the only Air Force dude these guys have even seen out here...

"My new home, for now... Tall Afar"

Check out the following article from MSNBC:

U.S., Iraqi troops sweep into city of Tall Afar
In the largest urban assault since the siege of Fallujah last November, more than 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops entered the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar before dawn Friday.

NEVER MIND! LINK IS GONE