Settling in

I am still getting adjusted and settled in here. As if the time difference was not bad enough I am also attempting to get used to the sounds at night. I am very quickly learning the sounds of small arms fire, mortars, helicopters, latrine doors slamming, etc..

I was able to tour Amman before I finally got a flight into Baghdad. I will post some pictures when I have a chance, but the internet has been very flakey lately, and the Army regulates usage if it needs more bandwidth for operations.

I saw the Citadel, The roman theatre, the Temple of Hercules and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was really cool seeing all of this stuff that is thousands of years old. It was amazing how much history the local people and cab drivers knew. Something is considered "old" in the US if it is over 100 years old, and we can barely get that stuff straight. (I will get pictures up later)

There were a bunch of PSD’s (Personal Security Detail) guys in my hotel and on my plane. These guys are hired by various VIP’s to provide them security while they live in or visit Iraq. These guys are BAD ASS; imagine A-Team/ Soldiers of Fortune / straight up Mercenaries. I swear that the one dude on my plane looked just like BA.

My flight to Iraq was delayed ALL DAY! , Amman may be nice but the airport is crap. Funny story -- they finally brought us out to the plane in a bus, but did not open the doors right away. We then see a guy walk back to the rear landing gear and start screwing with the tire. He then grabs a hand jack and starts jacking up the plane and removes the tire. We see him screw around some more with the gear and then he walks over to a tire that had been sitting in the dirt next to the runway. I think he grabbed something from that and then finally put the tire back on and we boarded. I managed to grab some pics... It was hilarious! Flying into Baghdad is not bad enough!?