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Hot time in Iraq

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been complaining when the mercury has been hovering around the one hundred degree mark for the past few days. I’ve quit complaing after I got these pictures from one of “my” young soldiers stationed in Baghdad. He’s in the army on his second tour of duty, his first tour was in Afghanistan.

This time he is based at the airport in Baghdad where he is a mechanic. Many of the vehicles they have to fix are too large to park inside, so they work on them on the pavement outside. One morning last week Zeb held a digital thermometer beside the vehicle they were working on outside and you can see from the picture that it is pretty darn hot.
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Don’t know if you can see this one, but it says 170.5 degrees!!! This is when they decided to quit until after dark. I don’t remember for sure, but isn’t 170 degrees the temperate required to boil alcohol? Seems like that’s what the old guys who grew up during prohibition told me.
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Living dangerously in more ways than one. Note the gas can our hero is sitting on while he enjoys a cigarette in the shade. The rifle goes everywhere with him, even to bed where it is attached to his ankle while sleeping. They are allowed to leave their rifles outside the shower, but it must be immediately available to them.
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One of the tanks brought into the shop.
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It could get hotter soon – note the No Smoking sign on the side of the gasoline tanker! Gotta have a little fun sometimes…
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This is my favorite of all the pictures. Who could have imagined that a young soldier from South Dakota would someday sit on the Butcher of Baghdad’s throne and live to tell the story. Here’s Zeb enjoying himself in Saddam’s palace. Way to go kid!!!
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kolanuraven

Well-known member
Too bad you didnt have these in time to send to Hanta Ya and sw. I sent her TONS of the pics from Iraq and some videos.

I bet she could'be used these for sure!

The pics are amazing aren't they....and we get a slice of history ourselves!

Digital cameras are GREAT!!
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
In both of those pictures his rifle is unloaded. Well maybe a single round in the chamber but there is no clip in the gun.
Wow! 170 degrees! Here im bitching about 80 degrees and bugs.
Thanks for letting me know I have nothing to complain about.
 

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
kola, digital pix are wonderful. Another blessing of modern technology is instant messaging. Zeb can get on a computer in the evening in Baghdad and "visit" with his folks via the keyboard to keep them well posted about what is going on in his life over there.

He was also able to email them a copy of the "Wrangler", his company newspaper, that had his picture on the front page with a story about his unit.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Yepper.....we use the Yahoo IM service between GA and Baqubah!! Who'd ever " thunk" that would happen one day!!!


BUT....it's is a shame that we HAVE to use all this cool techno stuff in the way we do.....but alas I digress!!!!

Techno stuff is GREAT!
 

Ben H

Well-known member
I have a picture of myself sitting in that chair, it's at South Victory at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport), that is the base where I was in the towers. That chair is at a palace Sadam built to honor the soldiers who fought in the Iraq-Iran war protecteding the Basra strip which is a very important piece of land for agriculture.
 

Ben H

Well-known member
Just added to PhotoBucket, lets see if this works
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Here is the "Chair"

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This is the palace it's in

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The description of the palace

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the chandelier in the palace

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Me on the balcony

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Our Tower

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My buddy doing business below the tower

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Me hanging out at my tower

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Chillin' at the Ausie's Pool

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Our night time view

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Iraq Cows

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Our Trailers

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Dogs making more dogs

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Our Internet

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The Mother of all "small" arms
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
WOW!!! Incredible pix, LB!! Thank you so very much for sharing with the rest of us!! I, too, am one that has been complaining of the mercury creeping toward the 92's!!! Sheeeeesh!!! Will not complain again!!!

Ben.....I am not able to click on the pix you posted...will keep trying since my computer-literate 17 year old is not here to help me!! :lol:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
:cry2: :cry2:

I am so sorry for our young men and what they have had to face.

Thank you Ben H. and every other soldier, from the bottom of my
heart!
 

passin thru

Well-known member
Good pics everyone.
The neighbors son just got back, he said that there is no way to describe the smell from the heat............just no way
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
Ben----let me start by saying "glad to meet you....finally!!"...always nice to be able to put a face with the name...your pictures were wonderful...thank you for sharing!!! However, could you please explain the trailers and the "blimp-looking" thing that is in a few of your pix?? Are the trailers your "barracks" in Iraq?? Am honestly curious!! :)

Got a story to share with you....last week the daughter and I had to go to Boze-Angeles to do some shopping and were in the local department store when we walked by a young man in desert camos....his face had the sun-weathered look of a young man just returned from "over there"....by his side was a young woman (wedding ring and pregnant belly in tow :wink: ).....she looked at him with such pride and love that it almost broke the heart of anyone who saw them! anyway, as they walked by, my daughter and I simply stood there in awe of this young man.....so many things we wanted to say to him...."thank you"...."welcome home"....etc!! Now, I wish I had taken the time to approach that young man and tell him those very things....so....I will say them to you, Ben!! Thank you!! Welcome home and God bless!!! :D
 

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
Thanks for posting your pictures Ben. And thanks for serving. Did you ever get a chance to swim in the water we see in the background? As hot as it was over there, I don't think they'd be able to keep me out of there.
 

Ben H

Well-known member
Thanks everyone, yes those trailers are what we live in. There is usually 2 to a room and 2-3 rooms to a trailer. We have a simple bed, wall locker and AC, then ability to add whatever you want from the PX, we had a small frig and microwave. From the Sat picture, you can see we had internet in our room, it was slow as crap but it worked.

The water in the background is actually the lake near the palaces, there are huge hills with antennas on them, these hills are made of the dirt dug out of the lakes (they're man made). You can't actually see the pool that I'm laying near. I don't go swimming when I first got there but I did near the end in March, that's when the picture was taken. The temp was probably in the 80's.

The blimp you see is our eyes. There are a few around base and on the bottom is a camera that is operated and seen back at the command center(s). The range on the thing is amazing.
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
Thanks, Ben for serving...to help keep our freedoms free. Thanks also for the pictures, it gives those of us who never went over there to get a good idea how things are. Our son is in the Mojave desert, getting acclimated to when he leaves for Iraq in September. He gets to come home next month for almost 3 weeks before deployment.
 

Cal

Well-known member
Thanks LB and Ben H for the privelage of sharing your photos, and thanks Ben H for your service to our country.
 
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