Concrete Jungle

Well today was the day. It was to be my first trip off of the FOB (Forward Operating Base where I live and work) and venture into downtown Baghdad. There was a sense of first car ride or first plane ride excitement, but also tempered with the fact that this "car ride" might be dangerous.
This is the the team that went out with me. We will travel out and conduct Force Protection inspection of Soldiers and where they live and work throughout the city. I am blessed with the BEST team on the staff.

When we travel out of the FOB, we always travel in this vehicle; an MRAP (Mine Resistant Armor Protective) truck. This is a million dollar, 15 ton rolling safety fortress. The crew sit up front and there are four seats in the back. Not the most comfortable ride, but very safe.

Just to get a scope of size, I took a picture with one of my team standing next to the truck. Now you can get an appreciation of how big it actually is.

The trip into the city was awesome. There are concrete barriers everywhere. Some roads are completely lined with 12' tall barriers and others with Jersey type barriers. These are here from when the vilence was very bad; at the beginning. Then other parts of the city were very normal. Our three vehicle convoy was in the middle of traffic as we drove through a market place. You can see construction going on everywhere, but everywhere you look, there are checkpoints. There are Iraqi Army checkpoints and police checkpoints and alot of reminders that this is still a war zone.

I suppose that this might be like London or Germany during WWII; people are trying to get on with their daily lives. Children still have to go to school, so there are yellow busses everywhere, the markets are open because the people have to make a living. The tide of attitude has clearly turned. They have built a lake resort, but it is behind concrete barriers and I read where 5 million people visited the zoo last year. All this are signs of progress that might not make the news. As we were traveling, I saw the famous crossed swords monument. Although I did not get any pictures, I will try and take some next time.