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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