Nearly two months

It's hard to believe, but yes, we have been here nearly two months. Time is flying by, thankfully, because none of these guys I see everyday are anywhere near as good looking as my wife.

We have been busy as usual, but seem to have taken a step back and are now gathering our strength for another big push towards our move. As usual there are many situations that may depict where we actually end up and for how long, but for now we are still moving to Mustang Ranch. So we are standing by awaiting the next Frago. Oh yeah, the name is now "Patrol Base Jedi," mainly because most of the contracts for our PB, especially the big ones, have gone up under the name of Jedi. No, Major Brott didn't make a command decision as to the name of the patrol base. (see new post by Maj Brott explaining the classification of bases here)

I'm sure you are wondering about the top photo. Neither of them are propane tanks, they are actually 120 kg bombs found in a cache by the IA. You can barely see the RPG round standing up behind the back bomb. We decided to confiscate the bombs from the IA, calling in coalition EOD to remove the bombs.

On a typical day here at FOB Falcon there are a few controlled detonations by EOD. We were able to hear and actually feel the concusion from the detonation of the bombs from Mustang. I must say some of us were quite proud of our IA bubbas for removing those monsters from the streets here in Baghdad.

We are still waiting to see if Col Maraud (Jaba) retains his command after his 90 day probationary period. This guy is getting promoted in January to BG. How, we aren't sure. Col M is more concerned with his new living quarters than securing and actually seeing his own battle space. Jaba has Major Brott convinced that he thinks we are here merely to provide funds to help him. Maj Brott told Jaba that he can use his funds to buy some plywood, the reply being something like "what do I need a Mitt team for then?" Jaba seems to think we are nothing more than a check book. More than one of us are hoping Jaba gets relieved. But if he doesn't then we will find a way to work with him.

Our days off are called "reset" days. The reset day consists of weapons cleaning and catching up on whatever needs catching up on. In my case I usually mess with the trucks or try to track something down on the FOB.

We normally (ok, always) get some ribeye steaks from the dining facility. SFC Colon usually grills the steaks after SFC Parker seasons them. They are far better than the boiled and fried versions from the Dfac. In the second picture I'm enjoying a Becks beer. Yes, it's a non-alcoholic beer, but I've nearly convinced myself that they taste good. We are going to try to find something else to cook on the grill. Once we are established at Mustang (aka PB Jedi), I intend to build us a nice brick bbq grill. We just need to track down some nice brick, mortar and grates. There are even briskets frozen at the px in biap... So here comes some smoked brisket with some palm or eucalyptus flavor (???).

Well, tomorrow we are expecting 5 of our first CHU's to arrive at PB Jedi. CHU stands for Compact Housing Unit or something clever like that. They are used and they aren't double wides, but it's only for the next 10 months. And the sure beat a drash or gp medium tent.

I suppose I should go back and read what I wrote, promising to post in the future. I'm sure that I'm lousy at replying to questions as well... All in good time. I'm still compiling pictures of the rest of the team to post their profiles, according to yours truly. I'm not sure I'm going to flatter any of them since there would be no fun in that.

Hold down the homefront...