The biggest threat these days may be food poisoning if you are not used to the local "flora" of the Kebabs and Smoothies.  Secondary threat--a septic infection from a cut at the barber shop.

But, with some Immodium and an up-to-date tetanus shot, you should be fine. 

The change from the beginning of the Surge to now, at the end of the Surge has to be seen to be believed.

Luckily, through modern technology, you can see it without going to Baghdad or bending the space-time continuum.

The 2007 video was shot April 29, 2007 with the 1/4 Cav., 4th IBCT.

The 2008 video was shot October 26, 2008 with the 7/10 Cav. 1st IBCT.

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I bring the rain to FOB Falcon every time. 

Iraq is indeed a desert, but it rains here in the valley between the two rivers more often than people imagine. 

The rainy season, running from November through April bring torrents flooding the streets and swelling the canals.  Even in May and June there will be occasional storms. 

But this year Iraq has been in a dry drought.  My return to FOB Falcon broke the drought--that or by sheer happen stance the drought ended when I arrived at FOB Falcon. 

I snapped the pics below on the drive from JSS Jihad in Baghdad's West Rashid district to FOB Falcon in the south of Baghdad.

This trip is shorter than most I make to Iraq.  Normally I go to Iraq for months.  This time it is just two weeks.

This trip is coordinated by my good friends at Black 5.  The mission is to look at Iraq from the perspective of a former Army Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Steve Russell, who commanded the 1-22 Inf. "The Regulars" back in 2003-2004 in the roughest parts of the Sunni Triangle.

The Regulars are back in Iraq, this time in West Rashid, my old home in Baghdad.  (A rather generous turn of fate.)

We're flying low and keeping a tight production schedule, so posting will be light.  We're shooting, interviewing and working outside the wire as much as possible.

Jimbo of Black5 gets the credit (blame) for a lot of this.  Another twist is that I will be back in this neck of the woods later next month and I'll do any follow-up work and spend more time in Rashid with the Regulars.

Credit also goes to my friends at Vets For Freedom and David Bellavia for bringing the whole operation together.  The crew on this trip, as I mentioned in a previous post, is worthy of seminar on Iraq.  Which is what the final product will be.

I'll will get some photos uploaded later today.

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To paraphrase the Jr. Senator from Illinois, "this is not the Baghdad I used to know."

Organized soccer matches between teams in uniforms.  Children and families on playgrounds.  Packed restaurants.

In the spring and early summer of 2007, those were things you did not see in Baghdad's West Rashid District.  In the early days of the surge, Baghdad residents referred to West Rashid as "the arena."  Sunni and Shia assassins added to the daily body count in a blood fued for hire that sprialed nearly out of control.

The 1-28 Infantry Battalion "The Black Lions" had just moved into the area of operations then.  Eighteen months later, the 1-22 Infantry Battalion, "The Regulars" are now patrolling the streets of Rashid.

I was here in the bloody days of the begining of the surge in 2007, when what is the reality now, was a mere potentiallity.  (My documentary Baghdad Surge was shot in West Rashid in the Spring/Summer of 2007.)

As I watched the soccer match I could not believe what I was seeing.  Rather than complain about the violence or mortars or killings, the players wanted grass--grass to play on.

That is the level of progress in 18 months.

My first night in West Rashid in 2007, I fell asleep to the sound of a raging gunfight.  Nearly every night was like that back in 2007.  Even when on the outposts, I had to wear full battle rattle when walking in certain areas that would be exposed to incoming fire.

Tonight I stood in a place I never would have stood in 2007, I stood stationary, smoking a cigarette, listening not to gunfire but to the sounds that come from any city.

It is good to be home--even if I barely recognize it.

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The JVB or Joint Visitors Bureau, Camp Victory Baghdad.  Guys like me rarely ever get to come here.  I'm not sure what I would do here anyway.  I prefer to get to a Brigade or Regiment, then get dropped into a Battalion and go to work.

But this mission is different.  A lot different.

I can't help but feel that I do not belong here.  This is where network anchors operate out of.  Where VIPs stay.

I'm just a dude with a camera.  I keep waiting for someone to say, "Lt. Colonel Russell, you can stay.  Brian Bennett, you can stay.  JD, go find some outpost to live at."

But that is where I am most comfortable--outside the wire.  There is no video to shoot here at Camp Victory Baghdad.  Maybe an interview or two.  But those will be meaningless without the real footage of grunts on the ground.

So much of Victory is off limits to photography.  One of the great ironies of combat reporting is that I can go some pretty intense missions, shooting video of everything from the classified briefing to the classified intelligence gathered on the way.  But I am not allowed to shoot video of a big base.

When I'm with a Battlion or infantry company I become a member of the unit.  Here, I am treated as something else.

I have also always disliked the sheer scale of Camp Victory.  The SUVs,the restaurant style dining facilities, the gyms the Walmart like PX.  Oh and did I mention all the SUVs?  Parking lots filled with them.

Give me OP Omar, COP Battle or some patch of canal country.  That is the war.

Yes, this place may help us get to some really intersting places--and that is the mission this time.

I just hope to get back outside the wire where I belong.

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Normally I fly Military from (the undisclosed location that may or may not be in Kuwait) to Baghdad.

This time I took a flight with Gryphon Airlines from Kuwait Internation to Baghdad.

I didn't know what to expect, but it was one of the better flights I have ever been on.  And here is the key--they have arrivals and departures from KWI and BIAP (military side) that are ON TIME.

When an embed like me flys military, I am a "Space Available" passenger.  Which means I may wait around a day or three trying to get into or out of Iraq.

The Gryphon is an airline flight.  A confirmed flight.  It leaves and arrives on time.  Which means no more wasting days.

I was lucky enough to chat with Early Gibbs of Gryphon and can attest that he is a gentleman of the first order who bent over backwards to take care of Brian, LTC Russell and I.

Gryphon also works with United Airlines to provide medical evacuation flights for Iraqi children.

As we were getting off, an ambulance was waiting to put a burned child on the DC-9 to Baghdad then a flight on United to the states.

Gryphon is well positioned to be a player in the Gulf area air travel industry--especially the Baghdad/Kuwait/Dubai routes.

Tomorrow is a logistics day.  Then I think we will start pulling some missions.

It will be nice to get back on the ground and outside the wire.

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Normally I'm a one-man band in Iraq. I head off to see what I can find and travel from unit to unit, place to place until I have a feel for what is happening and enough video to make a few documentaries.

This trip is different. I'm travelling with LTC Steve Russell who commanded the Battalion at Tikrit in 2003 that captured Saddam. Along with us is a Brian Bennett, a writer who covered LTC Russell's unit for TIME Magazine.

Dinner last night in Kuwait by itself was worth the price of admission.

The knowledge of and points of view of Iraq and warfare around that table were worthy of an academic seminar.

LTC Russell, a student of military history, implemented the current COIN strategy to great effect in 2003. The techniques applied to Fallujah, Ramadi and Baghdad during the Surge were put in place in Tikrit at the beginings of the insurgency.

Brian Bennett is an astute observer with a deep sense of history. Truly more of a writer and analyst than a transcriber of events and an adventurer of the first rate who would have fit in well with the Victorian era Royal Geographic Society.

It is rare that I feel I am amatuer in Iraq, but with these two I feel as if I am being called up from the Minors to play with the Majors.

A Battalion Commander of one of the most storied units ever to serve in Iraq, a world class writer for a venerable institution and me, a self styled documentary filmmaker.

This is gonna be fun.

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On my way to Iraq today.
 
I've gotten so used to the trip I can throw everything together in 24 hours.
 
Not sure what the final product is going to be from this trip.  I never even attempt to script or plan the war.
 
On my last trip I came back with documentaries I never could have foreseen.  What will this trip bring?
 
I should be on the ground and operating on Tuesday.  I'll save you the boring details of cork-screw landings and Rhino rides.
 
But I will say this trip is different.  I've been rolling around doing this for 4 years now and I am not the same person I was when I started.
 
This trip has some interesting features and as my experience in Iraq has grown, I hope the product I produce will continue to evolve.
 
As many of you know, the DVD's finance my work in Iraq.  If you can afford to, please buy a DVD .

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