PARTY CONTINUES

It felt good to sit back and relax and visit with everyone.

The food was good, got to meet and greet several people.

As contractors, we had one thing in common, we are

retired military with at least twenty years plus military

expertise in training the new Iraqi army.

TIME FOR A BREAK!

Just like Americans, we must take time out for a cookout!!
Our military and the contractors got together and grilled
hamburgers and hot dogs.  We also served salad and cold
sodas.  This was a good time for all of us to get to know
each other.

COMPLETION OF MOSQUE (DAY & SUNSET)

After several months of their hard work, these are the final results!!

We were the first ones allowed to see the mosque after completion,

before the grand opening.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit

a mosque, they are very beautiful and worth visiting.

We hope, with our friendship, they will now have a better

understanding of Americans.

REBUILDING MOSQUE IN IRAQ

These Iraq workers rebuilt the mosque in our camp. After

noticing these workers, Andy and I went over and introduced

ourselves and brought them cold sodas and cold water, as a

friendly gesture. We found out two of the workers had been

sergeants in Sadaam's army. One person was a karate

champion in Iraq. Sometimes we would have dinner with

them, most of them spoke fairly good english. They lost their

jobs after we invaded Iraq. They were experts in the field of

masonry and painting.

LUNCH TIME (BEEF STEW)

It was a cold day, and we had been out inspecting our trucks, boy did
this beef stew taste good! This inspection was performed by us, as
contractors, before we turned them over to the Iraq army.
These trucks are really useful, could use one of these back in the USA.

NEW IRAQ ARMY VEHICLES

These are SUV's used by Army officers and dignitaries. These are the
new type trucks used for transportating soldiers back and forth from
the field and to their destinations. This is a photo of me and my best
friend in the maintenance field (he made stuff happen),

BEGINNING OF MAINTENANCE TRAINING

This is our first group of Iraq soldiers being trained in a maintenance
patoon. They adapted to the training presented to them very easily.
This group was excited to begin use of their training. They were eager
to learn, and make it happen.