Thanksgiving DInner, Iraq.

Suffice it to say that we had options to the traditional fare on Thanksgiving.

Toga Party

A take off on TOA (Transfer of Authority)

OUCH!

Luckily Sgt Turner, a very talented artist, eventually regained the use of his thumb.

MOM!

Do I hafta wear all that stuff?!

FREAK!

Ok, I have 10 tattoos myself...you can't tell unless I'm wearing a tank top and shorts though. So, a lot of young Soldiers, both male and female, like and sport many tats. This toon calls the inkless dude a freak.

Take out.

OK, I got a lot of grief on this one! The Soldiers at the Coalition Cafe (our DFAC, dining facility) were having trouble with civilian contractors taking more than the two take out containers allowed and asked me to draw this toon. They put it up and it appeared in the Mountain View. They were forced to take it down and my boss, 1LT Glaubach got a call from a U.S. captain who insisted that it offended the Royal Tongan Marines and could cause an international incident! You will notice that the flag on the right is the Tongan flag, and unknown to me the Tongans, who guarded Al Faw Palace, had permission to take several containers each to their buddies pulling guard duty. The Tongans, a very professional group and good guys, weren't offended as far as I could tell. The flags of all Coalition Forces do hang in the Coalition Cafe. Of course the first name of the U.S. captain was Ferris...go figure!

SUV #1

First in a three panel cartoon...I'm serious too!

SUV #2

Uh huh!

SUV #3

I'm telling you, I've seen it!

Dust Storms...

aren't much fun! Seriously, it's a good thing I'm and old man and have a lot of hair growing in my nostrils! It helped cut down on all that dust being inhaled!

My husband went to Iraq...

And all I got was this lousy tank!

C-RAM

This accompanied a story on the C-RAM system, which tracked and shot down incoming rockets and mortar rounds...I can't remember what C-RAM stands for...I'll have to look it up after I finish my bottle of Dancing Bull!

SOFA!

SOFA=Security of Forces Agreement.

Krazy Krew!

L to R, SSG Sauret, SSG Blaine, me and SPC Conrad.

Me and LT

1LT Skindell

High Command

L to R, Maj. Spagel, 1LT Glaubach, me, and 1st SGT Speaks.

Open yer eyes!

Middle, Spc Goodwin and SFC Cornaby.

Look cool!

L to R, Cpt. Edwards, Sgt. Turner, me, SSG Wright and Spc. Snyder.

Advance Party

L to R, Cpt. Edwards and SSG Wright.

10th Mountain PAO

L to R, Spc LeCappelain, me, Sgt. Kuhl and Spc. Dillion, behind the MOC (Media Operations Center)

Smokin...

is bad for your health!

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign...

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

FREEZE!

One gets so used to taking free stuff from the DFAC ya gotta be careful when you get back home!

Cigar Club

In the smoking pit at Camp Victory!

What a shock!

Ah, SPC Crofoot! You were good for a few cartoons! You're a good Soldier too! Hooah!

Which is it?

I served with the 3rd Infantry Division where the greeting while saluting was, "Rock of the Marne!" Then the 10th Mountain Division took command and it was, "Climb to Glory!" Sometimes it got confusing during the transition.

Proper Military Salute?

There is one way, and only one way to salute in the Army, BUT there are so many individual interpretations of that one salute!

My arm hurts!

Being at Division on a huge base like Camp Victory, EVERYBODY gets tired of saluting!

Runners are nuts!

It's one thing to run in Iraq during the summer months, but at noon?!

Don't feed the animals!

Captain E got so good at throwing goodies to the "River Hamsters" that they didn't have to leave their holes! He'd get that piece of bread or hotdog right inside their burrows!

Rip it, Rip it good!

Morning formation comes early!

Always recycle

A local Iraqi firm had a busy plastic recycling plant operating and employing a lot of people.

Survivor!

Lets just say that our gear took a little while to catch up with us in Iraq.

It costs HOW MUCH?!

This really happened to Captain E! I was there!

Pool Party

Hey! The Australians had a pool in their area...a left-over from Saddam's officer billets.

Oh Oh!

Someone has been printing SIPER stuff on NIPER printers...wonder who it could be?

Merry Christmas!

The tour would have been really good if I could have brought my dog, Tricky!

Happy New Year!

2009 in Iraq!

New Technology

This one was prompted by the USB port crisis! LoL You don't realize how you come to depend on stuff until it's gone! I did get a lot of email from "old" Soldiers who know what a manual type writer is!

NCOER

It's not a good idea to have the Soldier you're rating be your spotter!

Mustache Club

Division had a "Best Mustache" contest. It was a lot of fun and great for morale, unfortunately not everyone could enter.

Muffins!

We had boxes of Otis S muffins delivered each week...they're pretty good, but too much of a good thing can kill ya!

Climb to Glory!

This is one of the first toons I did when the 10th Mountain Division came to town.

Damn Camel Spiders!

You've heard the stories, now here's the proof! Those damn Camel Spiders get pretty big, and ya gotta just protect yourself sometimes!

Minimum load

The laundry service was greatly appreciated by military personnel...as long as you had the right number of articles to turn in!

Loo Loo

LOO was a big deal in MND-C for the transition of Iraqi governance. The "Line of Operations" are: governance, security and economy. It's working and working well.

Laundry

Don't even talk to me about missing socks and underwear!

Late Arrival

Why does the Army always get you there in the middle of the night with ALL that crap you have to lug around?

Goodbye Cartoon

Self-explanatory toon.

Just Sayin

I saw so many BIG guys walking around with toy looking M4s and so many SMALL women lugging around the ol M16A2s...just sayin!