My Trip to Baghdad...

I just got back from Downtown Baghdad. Myself and one of my Marines, SSgt Michael Rivera, got to visit the city for his reenlistment. His tour was up and he had chosen to reenlist for another four years. This involves a short ceremony and for someone like him with eleven years in, he was deserving of something special. We flew into the city on the 22nd and stayed till Christmas morning.
We stayed in the U.S. Embassy, which is one of Saddam's old Palaces (the top picture here, not the bombed one here), and did his ceremony at the Crossed Swords next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb is from the Iran-Iraq War and is for the same purpose as our own like memorial. The Crossed Swords are bookends for a parade deck where Saddam used to hold daily parades. We conducted the ceremony and then took a tour of the city. Here are two of the Saddam busts that were removed from the palaces. This guy really thought a lot of himself. It was quite a trip and was a very unique way to spend Christmas Eve and Morning...