( This is what happens when a 7.62x39mm AK-47 round goes through a Tachyon satellite unit )

Our team returned safely from Al Ana this morning.  En route, they passed through Hit (pronounced "Heet") again.  The streets were full of mujahadeen massing for another assault on Al Asad.

According to my engineers' report, these mujahadeen were organized and well-armed.  They carried a dangerous mix of weapons - AK-47 assault rifles, Dragunov ( Read more... )

As some of you have heard, two Americans and one Briton were kidnapped from their Al Mansur, Baghdad, home yesterday.  Let me give you some important information about why these men were idiots, and why slownewsday and I are not.

• They had only one company guard.  When he didn't show up, they had none.
• Their guard was obviously local (didn't live with them ( Read more... )

( Did you know that Red Bull fits in the same-size pouch as flash-bang grenades? )

slownewsday and I woke last night to a battle outside our house.  Two thieves (Ali Babas) dressed in black were sneaking around the back garden of our neighbor.  It isn't clear who fired first, or how it started at all.  What is clear is that the guards on my roof (over our bedroom) opened up with multiple rifles in short automatic bursts.  The thieves may ( Read more... )

I hear a lot of my friends back in California are preparing for 4th of July.  I just wanted to tell you all that I am too.  Except the fireworks here will almost certainly involve more dust and shrapnel than pretty colors.  And I'll be indoors most of the day.

But just for the fun of it, I think I'm going to let loose with a few rounds from the ( Read more... )

TheBoss is taking the entire company to Kurdistan for a vacation.  We're staying in riverside cabins in Sulimaniya.  Tomorrow we're going to Ahmed Ahwah, a small town in the mountains right on the Iranian border, with fantastic views and waterfalls and goats and traditional Kurdish peshmerga ( Read more... )

I picked up TheBoss from Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) today. We drove in on the road that is commonly the site of ambushes, and this time I had to do it driving a green Chevy Blazer (an SUV, which makes it a target). We had some last-minute scheduling fun that necessitated the switch, so we compensated by carrying more guards and weapons ( Read more... )

The car and the team have returned safely from Basrah. After 8 hours of delays and negotiations, we got the car back for a total cost of $1850. That's $1600 for the car, $100 to thank the negotiator, and $150 in incidentals like taxis, tips, and lunch with the thieves themselves ( Read more... )

I've been in charge for 10 months now, and each time I send someone out of Baghdad I worry that they won't come back. My luck almost ran out yesterday ( Read more... )