I woke up thoroughly disoriented, the basement was still pitch-black, and it took me a handful of seconds to get a bearing on where I was, which is a disconcerting experience when you realize you have woken up somewhere in Baghdad.  There is nothing quite like gaining consciousness in the bowels of a base in Baghdad to throw the day into rather unique  perspective.

My father’s bed was empty, he was already out and about, and I got dressed, intent …

Most of our time in Iraq has been spent at small bases called Combat Outposts or COPs.  COP Apache in the Adamiyah district of Baghdad is one COP we visited often.  Once, one of Baghdad’s toughest neighborhoods, Adamiyah is experiencing a time of fragile peace.  

Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division based at COP Apache, especially the members of Attack Company, conducted multiple daily patrols to keep the lid on potential sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites …

We arrived at Apache late at night, and as with War Eagle, our view of the COP was obscured by darkness. I couldn’t see clearly out the window because of the backpack in my lap, but I caught a glimpse of an enormous building, and remembered that Apache was next door to a palace once occupied by one of Saddam’s wives. I hoped to get a better look at it in daylight, looking at the palaces was always an interesting …

That night we departed from War Eagle, finally making the last leg of our journey to Apache. We were due to arrive via the Silver Lion Express, a convoy that traveled between the various COPs in Aadamiyah, its primary purpose shuttling people around, getting personnel and supplies where they needed to go. They met us outside Brigade HQ, a train of four Humvees, their headlights cutting through the dark  Baghdad night.

We managed to get all of our gear into …

Much is said about the dangers the troops face, but understanding the nature of the threats is difficult, the news reports will often give numbers, but without context those numbers are just another series of pixels on the bottom of the television. Things like IEDs, EFPs, and small arms fire are easy to conceptualize, but without seeing them firsthand any sense of danger or urgency is lost.

I know this because I haven’t seen any of these things firsthand. My …

Getting from one unit to another in Iraq would be impossible without the Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.  Carlos and I have spent hours moving from base to base via Black Hawks.  Without them we and the soldiers we cover would be exposed more often to roadside bombs and suicide bombers.  Those kinds of threats have diminished in the past year, but the Black Hawks, and the pilots who fly them, have saved uncounted lives since the Iraq war began.…

Our meeting with Colonel Hort was later in the day, and turned out much differently than I had expected. These types of meetings are built on a solid routine: you go in, talk to the commander, we discuss our project, he discusses his OE (Operational Environment), a little back and forth occurs on specifics, and we are sent on our merry way. The meetings are unvaryingly informative, yet except for the details, interchangeable.

The meeting with Col Hort veered from …