Operation Iraqi Freedom Pictures

These are a few of the pictures I took during my deployment.  I have tried to post these as close to chronological as possible.  I hope everyone enjoys them and is able to gain a better perspective of the war from them.  

Getting on the bus to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina

Our [very cramped] berthing quarters on the USS Ashland

Crossing through the Suez Canal in Egypt

Our tent at Camp Ryan, Kuwait

Free Iraqi Fighters reading MAXIM magazine

Ready to go on the first day of the war - March 20th, 2003

Going through the breech into Iraq

Hunkering down during THE sandstorm

The trash dump we stayed at south of An Nasiriyah

Notice the woman with the cabinet on her head

Handing out food to Iraqis on my 23rd birthday

Our "embed" reporter, BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan

These cheering Iraqis swarmed us after 2 weeks of war

Marketplace/Bazaar in An Nasiriyah

Posing by the Euphrates River

The initial hospital Jessica Lynch was taken to by her captors

An Nasiriyah Police Department squad car

The Ur Ziggurat southwest of An Nasiriayh

Playing soccer with Iraqi kids in full combat gear

Getting ready to take a ride in a US Army Blackhawk

The restored Ishtar gate in Babylon

Bust of Saddam at Baghdad Presidential Palace

Relaxing on the Presidential throne

A model found in the Baghdad palace - makes you go hmm...

On the palace roof overlooking Baghdad

Our living area in Al Kut

Getting on the USS Ashland at Morehead City, NC

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on the USS Ashland

Offloading into Kuwait

Local signpost at Camp Ryan, Kuwait

Sheltering from the sandstorm in the tent

Vehicles in staging area before entering Iraq

Iraqi kids picking up handouts from vehicles moving north

Digging fighting holes

Looting of government facilities after hostilities cease

Traded in about a hundred US dollars for Iraqi dinars

Happy Iraqi kids who love getting their picture taken

Kids wanted us to write things like "Bush good" on them

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil...

One of the numerous times we passed out candy to the kids

The singing bass fish in Iraq!?!

Our first traditional communal meal with Iraqis

We went bathroom in drums filled with gas then burned them

Looking up the steps of the Ziggurat

Riding high above the Iraqi landscape in a Blackhawk

Informally named air base south of An Nasiriyah

Keeping up with the news in Iraq

The lion statue in Babylon

The ruins of Babylon with Saddam palace in contrast

Murals in palace including Scud missile mural

The history of Iraq mural as depicted on the Iraqi dinar

Finally back on US soil