marty's Blog

Well lets see where to begin. on 17 Oct I moved back to Basra, I have completed my work in Bucca and will now take over as the Opperations NCOIC in Basra. I am looking forward to the change and it is deffinetly nice to get out of Bucca, five months in that place is more than enough for any person. So I have spent about four days learning to do that job. it will be busy for me as there is a lot to do. my biggest priority will be coordinating all the security movements of people around southern Iraq.
on 22 Oct I left for the country of Qatar with Dean on our four day pass of rest and relaxation. We flew the British Royal Air Force from Basra straight to Qatar. We left at about 3 AM as most fixed wing flight from this area is done in the hours of darkness as to not get shoot out of the air. We landed in Qatar at about 5 AM. the in procesing through costums and getting set up in our billets went smooth. the first day we got signed up for the next days venue and then it was off to sleep as we had been up for 36 hours between working the day and then traveling to Qatar. On our first venue we traveled into the city of Doha to the Vallaggio mall. this mall is huge and has a man made river that runs through it in which you can ride on little boats. the whole theme of the the mall is like you are outside. all the stores have faces like you are on main street of a big city and even the roof is painted and shaped to look like the sky outside. the only down side was most of the shops were taylored to female clothing. we did get to see a lot of Qatari in traditional dress and the women in the black dresses with their faces covered, they are refered to as the ninja women. I must say the funest day was our tour out on the Persian Gulf. we took an old charter boar out on the Gulf for the day. The boar parked out in the ocean and we swam in the ocean, let me tell you that is some awefull tasting water. it was unreall how salty the water is. we also got to do some jet skiing and tubing. There was a meal provided also that was good. I must admit I did get a sun burn but that will soon turn to white skin again. lol. Bottom line is that four days was a nice break from Iraq, no weapons, no body armor, no rocket attacks and no one trying to kill you. It even actually rained while in Qatar which I was beginging to wonder if I would ever see rain again. There was a Chili’s restouraunt on base that we ate at and let me tell you it was great, it actually tasted like a real steak from the states. The military mess hall was pretty awesome also, the food was good and the building was absolutly huge. They used the old pyrimid from egypt theme inside. The flight Back to Basra after the pass was a little longer due to the fact we had to stop in Kuwait and pick up about forty British soldiers on thier way to Basra. Once again as we near the Basra base it is night time with all lights on the plane off and evasive flying so as to eliminate the chance of getting shot down. There was an awesome red moon out in Basra when we landed so i took a picture and added it to the collection. Oh by the way all the Qatar pictures have been uploaded to me web site so you can view them there on the photo albums page of