The Last Day of My First April in Iraq

This is my first April, and probably my last April in Iraq. Nobody knows what will happen in the years to come. It doesn't seem likely that we'll be back any time soon after we go, but uncertainty is king. Soon our unit, on one of the last 15 month deployments still in country, will begin the overlap as we pass the one year mark.

I like the composition of this one. 1/4th of my daily snapshots are actually kept and not deleted. Most are blurred, out of focus or out out of the frame. It almost becomes a game. When I miss a good one I curse my camera, but to think of the pre-digital challenge, and not knowing what you have till you take your film into a dark room. There's really a huge advantage with technology, and with a bit of patience it doesn't take a professional to get amazing pictures.

This woman was in the bottom left corner of the frame of the original. I barely got her as I zoomed in and zoomed by in our convoy. I cropped the shot and now I post her image on my blog. To think, of the 99.9 percent chance that she'll never know this single moment of her life was captured, and escaped from Iraq.

A larger check point and a vehicle search.

Shepherds

Desert silhouette.

Nomadic Bedouins. Reminds me of the song "Less Cities, More Moving People," by The Fixx in the mid 80's.

One of several blue and white painted outposts along the route. Always just a shed manned by a traditionally dressed man, wearing a traffic vest and armed with an AK-47. It's hard to picture what the exact assignment is for these men, and what the plan would be if they needed assistance. They are the most unofficial aspect of armed government workers, and switching sides is almost common place, so as one could imagine we keep an eye on them as we pass.

A check point soldier. We go through several check points large and small on our way out and back. In this photo the small earthy structure looks almost as if it rose up out of the ground by itself, destined to be a guard post.

You hear all kinds of half cocked rumors about life for women in Iraq. A lot of what I've heard seems to be true. When it's said that they are never without a male escort it's only partly true. In rural areas women are seen on their own a lot, out of necessity it would seem. In middle size cities like Diwaniya there are usually pairs of women. In Baghdad women are seen alone at all ages all the time, and in different states of dress.

A 7-eleven in Central South East Iraq.