Yeah back in
The new condo is looking good and almost done (pictures coming). The commute to work sucks but I'm not dodging bullets anymore (unless I go east a few blocks).
I'm getting fat! I haven't hit the gym since I've been back. I need to drag my ass back and soon.
The jeep is running well (after a $1200 repair).
So far I've seen about half of my friends. I need to make a better effort!
Went to a couple of beach parties, drank too much. Went to
All in all life is good.
More to follow…
Tonight I begin the 4 day, 8000 mile trip back to
I’m out of here!
So the other night at about 0130 (that's 1:30am) I'm flying 40 feet above the ground with the 101st Aviation Brigade in a Blackhawk across vast stretches of Iraqi desert sporadically dotted with small villages. The crew is using night vision goggles to see where we are going. I am very familiar with this kind of flying because I used to be a combat flight crew chief and I flew hundreds of these missions myself. About an hour into the flight the pilot fired off a bunch of phosphorous flares and the two door gunners lit up the 50cal door guns. We started yanking and banking, flying in an evasive way to avoid being shot. Me and the other passengers grabbed our own weapons and loaded them, ready for whatever might happen. Well after we flew out of the "danger zone" the crew got a radio call from the other Blackhawk flying with us saying they spotted our enemy. It was a dog. Crazy enemy dogs! Yeah, that'll wake you up!
Anyway what struck me most was right at the moment this was going on, when I was preparing to be engaged somewhere over the Iraqi desert in the middle of the night my friends back home were completely unaffected by my reality and fully immersed in their own. It seems so weird that I could have such an extreme moment while Matt was in the middle of his lunch hour,
In retrospect I'm glad we live insulated lives. But I'm also glad I was reminded that insulated shouldn't equate to apathy. The next time I'm asked to give a little to help someone in some far off place I might think twice.
M.
Hi Pop, I’m thinking about you today. I’m thinking about how you had a pretty bad childhood and how you were on your own by the time you were seventeen. I’m thinking about your years in the Navy and how your old stories inspired me to follow in your footsteps. I’m thinking about how hard you worked when we were young and how we always had what we needed even when you were one step away from being broke. I’m thinking about being a little boy and the way you used to let me lay with you when you’d take a nap. I’m thinking about how you put up with so much teenage angst and selfishness with steady love and wisdom. I’m thinking about your ambition and devotion to hard work. I’m thinking about the day you watched me graduate from high school and boot camp and how your smile told me how proud you were. I’m thinking about the way you took care of your dying parents without complaint at great costs emotionally and physically despite the way they treated you when you were young. I’m thinking about your love for being around people and how everyone loved being around you. I’m thinking about the way you beamed with love and affection for your grandkids and how they loved you back.
Finally I’m thinking about how life was taken from you early. I had the privilege to be at your side when you died. I think you knew how important you were and continue to be. Everyone I touch is also touched by you.
Thank you for everything Pop.
Love Mike
My official Statement...
The streets of Baghdad.
An Iraqi Police checkpoint. These checkpoints are well known for being infiltrated with insurgent militia who set up bogus roadblocks to capture and kill anyone who can be overpowered.
Inside the train station - a reminder of the past.
Bullet holes from a recent attack.
My team - I'm in the middle of the picture securing my helmet.
This picture is right outside the building I work in. The sand storm was just starting at this point and already it was dark enough to kick on some of the outdoor lighting. 
Another shot right outside my building. Remember this is just 3:00 in the afternoon and there's no filter on the camera.
Looking east… The building in this shot was once used by Sadam's "elite" Iraqi guards.
Another shot right outside my building. That is an old Iraqi prison on the other side of the wall.
Again, 3:00 in the afternoon. The light is a street lamp (not the sun).
In the last eight months I have had the opportunity to work with some good people in Iraq. One of them in particular comes to mind because of his recent departure. When I first met Sadeem (not his real name) I mistook him for an American. His sandy blond hair and perfect English disguised his heritage. His background wasn’t revealed until a lengthy conversation one day when he took the time to tell me about his family and his love for his country. Sadeem worked under the Coalition Forces for about a year and a half. It's a job that would surely get him killed if the wrong people knew about it. When he'd leave for work every morning he would take a series of cabs all over the city, getting out to walk part of the way, all in an attempt to throw off anyone who might be watching him. His neighborhood is only two miles away yet it would take him an hour to arrive. He did this everyday leaving his wife, son and daughter to come here and work to make Iraq a better place.
Like any thinking person he saw both good and bad in the American occupation of Iraq. He believed in improving his country and he is a genuine fan of Americans. Mostly however he wanted to provide for his family. About four months ago in the middle of the day he received a frantic phone call from his wife telling him that his fourteen year old son had been kidnapped. Someone had discovered Sadeem worked for Americans and grabbed the boy. I think most of us saw the inevitable, including Sadeem, but he kept a brave face and even continued to work day after day. As it turns out he was lucky (relatively speaking), the kidnappers were just criminals interested in extorting money for his son’s life instead of Insurgents looking to make a statement. The kidnappers knew that Sadeem had a very good source of income making him a target in another way. Sadeem paid the ransom and got his son back (we helped him with the money). The kidnappers were never caught.
The last straw occurred a couple of weeks ago when in the space of five days forty people in his neighborhood were murdered. Sadeem decided that he could no longer put his family at risk, especially with the likelihood of a bad outcome increasing dramatically. The day he walked out you could see the heartbreak in his eyes. His sense of failure and resignation as well as a general feeling that Iraq is not getting better where obvious in his face which he did his best to hide as he became emotional.
Since he left I have tried to reconcile his reality against my own as I do with every similar situation. I have this need to find balance in everything. This is challenging as my life is one of great fortune compared with Sadeem’s. In the end I am left with this; it is what it is. Because of an infinite set of complex circumstances starting long ago our realities are vastly different yet intertwined. It occurred to me recently that how we choose to act and the choices we make during these events are probably more important then dissecting the past.
In any event I’m thinking about it and that’s a good thing.
This isn't Denver. It's San Diego, March 2006. Crazy huh.
This is an exterior shot looking up at the Condo. (5th floor) 
18 foot ceilings. This view is looking up at part of the loft from the Kitchen.
Looking down into the Living Room.
Living Room View.
Computer rendering of finished building.
Looking up at one of the holes in the ceiling.
A bullet that went through the metal roof then lodged itself into a piece of fiber board.
Another bullet we found
... and another
Saddam had many palaces including this building which was designed to be a fake. Hoping his enemies would target this building Saddam built it, furnished it and even held functions within it so that it appeared to be one of his homes. Although a fake it ironically sat above a very secure emergency bunker.
