My Birthday Stuff!

I am officially in the DIRTY 30 CLUB!!

Just because your half the world away doesn't mean you have to change how you celebrate your birthday...for those that dont know I usually like to have a really good BBQ with close family and friends...I'm talking nice, fat, juicy steaks with all the trimmings! So why not in Iraq. I BBQ'd for the whole Company on Sunday and it turned out pretty well. It was one heck of a big grill!

So the guys got me a pecan pie and sang me happy birthday. It really meant a lot to me. I must of had some residual smoke in my eyes when this picture was taken...I wasn't crying or anything! That would be crazy!!

So General Nasir is a pretty eclectic guy. He likes to accumulate items and things that represent power and strength so why wouldn't he have his own personal zoo (in his compound)and why wouldn't the crown jewel of that conglomerate be an Iraqi Golden Eagle! (yes, I didn't know they had eagles either)


So that is General Nasir right behind the eagle and on the far side of the picture that is half my face. The eagle was tethered on a 6ft string. I conveniently sat on a chair 7ft away. Momma didn't raise no fool!

So a little incident that I thought was pretty cool. You see General Nasir was part of the Old Republican Guard under Saddam Hussein. Every now again he talks about the things that he did and saw during the invasion of Iraq. So we are sitting around talking about maintenance request, Soldier training, whats good and bad and what needs to be fixed, you know the usual Soldier stuff. So General Nasir asked us if we want to hear a funny story, we of course say sure. So he commences to tell us that when American tanks had rolled into Baghdad communications between the Iraqi army was totally trashed. Gen Nasir was a young special ops officer and his superior came to him and ordered him to secure the Baghdad airport. They had received intelligence that the American Army was going to air assault and take over the airport. Gen Nasir's superior told him if he failed he was going to be executed, if he didn't obey orders immediately he would be executed (we didn't think this was funny but he thought it was hilarious) So because Gen Nasir is still alive and we didn't air assault into the airport, no worries. So it was just weird to think that here, sitting in front of us was a man that not 8 yrs ago was literally trying to kill us and we were literally trying to kill him. Now we are sitting around drinking tea together. Kinda like history in making. Pretty cool and kinda humbling to think that I get to be a witness to it. Anyway the best part of my birthday is the picture below!


Callaway Golf Clubs! Ever since I started playing golf I have dreamed about owning a pair of these. So my dear sweet wife knows that I have wanted these but we, of course could not afford a new pair of clubs like these. But thanks to some great family members :-) Here they are sitting in my house waiting for me when I get back. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Haley for everything! Thanks everybody for the well wishing, means alot to know how many people care!