I was leading my squad on patrol today when we got a call on the radio. Aerial surveillance had found an insurgent preparing to fire rockets at our base! (This is the actual aerial surveillance photo, with Nicole’s notes on it)

We immediately responded by calling in an air strike. With our aerial surveillance guiding him, Tony was able to score a direct hit. Notice the crater behind him.

I arrived just a minute or two later and talked to Reggie and Tony. They said that there were other insurgents involved, but they drove away in a pickup truck.

Reggie was able to track the truck back to a nearby village. I took my squad over there to see what we could find. Here I am knocking on the door of a house. You can see that Snort and Winston are establishing security, and Steve is getting ready to go in the house with me.

The owner of the house greeted us. I thought he looked a little suspicious.

I spoke to him while Steve checked the place out.

I noticed that the occupant of the house got really nervous when Steve walked near a large rug that was lying on the side of the room.

So I decided to check it out:

When I lifted up the rug, I discovered a cache of rockets!

Steve and I immediately detained the occupant of the house.

We’ll send him to an internment facility for interrogation. I hope he’ll tell us who else has been helping to shoot rockets at our base!

Posted by Stone Cold at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, 25 April, is a very important day! In Australia and New Zealand, this is when they commemorate "ANZAC Day!" ANZAC stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps." This was a Corps of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who fought in World War One. On 25 April, 1915, these soldiers made an amphibious landing at a place called Gallipoli. That developed into a terrible battle in which thousands of them were killed.

Today, ANZAC day commemorates all of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who have fought and died in wars, from World Wars One and Two to Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the two Gulf Wars. It's a very important day.

Steve had a great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather who fought with the original ANZACs (see picture below), so he led our own commemoration.

On ANZAC day, people wear red poppies. This commemorates the battles fought near Ypres, in Belgium, and the poppies that grew there. There is a famous poem called In Flanders Fields that mentions the poppies, and that's why they've become part of our remembrance. Unfortunately, no poppies grow in this part of Iraq, so we did the best we could:

New Zealand does not have soldiers in Iraq, but a member of their diplomatic corps came as a representative:

Steve and I raised the Australian and New Zealand flags to half-mast to commemorate the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who have died in war:

Winston and Snort laid a wreath of poppies:

Steve finished off by reciting another famous poem, For the Fallen, which is another traditional part of ANZAC day observances.

I sure learned a lot about Australian history by helping Steve commemorate ANZAC Day! If you want to learn more about this holiday, the Australian War Museum has a site that explains it very well:

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm

Posted by Stone Cold at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The insurgents keep firing rockets at our base. We’ve been having a tough time trying to stop them, because we can’t see where they’re firing from. I asked MAJ Simer if we could get a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to try to find them, and he said yes, but we would have to do an “ONS.” “What’s an ONS?” I asked. MAJ Simer said, “an ONS is an Operational Needs Statement. You have to write up exactly what you need, why you need it, the support requirements for it, and a risk assessment. Next, you put this all into a special computer program we have for managing equipment. Then, the whole information packet goes up to the Corps, where a specially trained person ignores it until you go away.” That sounded like a lot of work with little chance of success. So, instead of getting a UAV, Reggie and Tony decided to work on their own version of aerial surveillance.

The first thing they decided they would need was a camera. This was easily acquired. They had a little trouble opening the package, though.

Once they got the camera out, there was another problem. Tony had trouble holding it in his talons!

They tried to think of ways to fix that. The first idea they thought of was very dangerous, so I jumped in to stop them before they could try it:

Their second idea was much better.

After all, there are few problems that can’t be solved with enough duct tape!

Now I hope we can start tracking down some of these insurgents!

Posted by Stone Cold at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This was a headline on MSNBC.com:

"S. Korean wolf cloning team under investigation"

I definitely think an investigation is needed. Wolves should not be trying to conduct scientific experiments of any kind, let alone cloning. Especially South Korean wolves. I am not fond of wolves - they run around in packs and howl and yap and that makes me nervous. If you try to eat one the others always gang up on you. We really don't need them to make more of themselves by cloning.

Posted by Stone Cold at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is what I found when I walked into the office this morning.

Oops! Looks like someone lost their headgear. Well, there's only one solution to this problem - the headgear must be punished!

My first idea didn't work out very well - the headgear didn't fit.

I then enlisted Winston to help me in my task. He contributed a little something:

There's a makeshift anchor here that some of our Navy Electronic Warfare officers put together. We decorate the anchor for various holidays. I thought the headgear would look good on top of the anchor.

… but then I figured that the headgear's owner (who was very negligent for leaving it unattended) would probably come by and take it back if I left it there. I couldn't let that happen. I found some soldiers nearby with a HMMWV and asked them to help.

After that, I had one more option in mind, which I thought was really cool. Unfortunately, CW4 Panos, the safety officer, did not think it was a good idea, and he stopped me.

So finally I just gave the soldier's headgear back to his supervisor with a note:

Sir,
One of your soldiers was negligent in leaving this "sensitive item" unattended. I recommend that you conduct corrective training.

Hee hee hee - it's fun playing practical jokes!

Posted by Stone Cold at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)