DUSTDEVIL 35 - My first Iraq book available for order on Blurb

After several years of procrastination my first Iraq book "DUSTDEVIL 35", is available for order on Blurb.

This book includes many of my photos as well as one of John Camp's stories from the trip.  Thank you John for graciously letting me include your work!

DUSTDEVIL 35 By Eric Bowen & John Camp by Eric Bowen | Make Your Own Book

I've also started work on a second (untitled) book of photos and stories from the 2007 embed with Bravo Company in Fallujah... no ETA on that project yet...

Combat Photographer Video Game

Been there done that... not sure it makes a compelling video game...

"Warco is a first-person game where players shoot footage instead of a gun. A work in progress at Brisbane-based studio Defiant Development, the game is a collaboration of sorts; Defiant is working with both a journalist and a filmmaker to create a game that puts you in the role of a journalist embedded in a warzone."


http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/09/warco-an-fps-where-you-hold-a-camera-instead-of-a-gun.ars

Quote of the day (from Mad Max)

"Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

--George Orwell

And on earth peace...

Before:	After:

Captain Andrea Ourada in front on her Blackhawk in Balad, Iraq in January 2008, and at her wedding in Marshall, Minnesota in December 2009.

(I thought the "Peace" banner in the background of the wedding portrait was kind of neat in this context...)

Iraq article with my photos in the Rochester Minnesota Post-Bulletin

The Rochester Minnesota Post-Bulletin ran a couple of nice feature articles today on SSG Michelle Smith including several of my photos of her taken in Iraq this past January:

* National Guard gunner returns to farm life

* National Guard service became a career for Minnesota woman

Here are the photos they ran:



SSG Michelle Smith, Blackhawk crew chief and door gunner, scanning constantly for ground fire.



SSG Michelle Smith, CW2 Gary Ng, CW2 Christopher Frazer, and SPC Joe Grabrick, all of Minnesota, prepare to shutdown for the night in Balad, Iraq.

And here is my favorite picture of Michelle that they did NOT choose to use:



SSG Michelle Smith, Blackhawk crew chief and door gunner, stands by to watch engine start at the beginning of a mission.

Quote of the day

"Optimism is a force multiplier"

-Unknown

Video: Interview with CPT Andrea Ourada

This video is the first hand account of CPT Andrea Ourdada's first combat action in Iraq (this interview was a basis for the Parade Magazine article).

Parade Magazine Cover

My photo of Captain Andrea Ourada on the flight line in Balad, Iraq in January 2008, as seen on the cover of the February 24th, 2008 issue of Parade Magazine.



32 million copies of this issue were printed for over 400 Sunday newspapers around the US.

You can read the text of John Camp's article here: http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_02-24-2008/Blackhawk_Pilot

Appearing on Alamanac this Friday (Twin Cities Public Television)

John Camp and I will be appearing on Almanac, the weekly public television news program this Friday at 7pm. This is a LIVE show, and we're being asked to talk about our Iraq experiences in general... I'm not quite sure where the program will go, but it's an interesting forum to have a slightly more indepth conversation about what we saw.

Almanac runs on TPT channel 2 in the Twin Cities metro area, and it also runs on WDSE channel 8, the Duluth public television station (I'm not sure about any other Minnesota outstate public television stations).

Micheal Yon article in the New York Times

The New York Times has a nice article profiling Michael Yon on the front page of the business section today: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/business/21iraqblogger.html?ref=business


Blogger Michael Yon and CSM Mellinger the sergeant major of all US forces in Iraq. (Photographed in Fallujah in February 2007.)

If you aren't already familiar with his work, Michael Yon is the quintessential Iraq blogger. He has spent years of his life embedded in Iraq, at his own expense, and has generated some amazing reporting. I would definitely credit him with inspiring me to start going to Iraq.

Over the past year it has been a pleasure to get to know him over email, and also spend a little time with him in person in Fallujah last year.

Do you feel like a winner?

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (in route home from Iraq) - Last February I was in Fallujah at the start of the surge, and when I asked soldiers if they thought we were winning the war they almost universally rolled their eyes, and gave me some version of "Yea, right" for being dumb enough to even be asking the question.

The soldiers I embedded with in Fallujah were justifiably proud of local accomplishments they had made, but violence was generally on an upward spiral across the rest of the country, and their buddies were getting wounded or killed with increasing regularity.

Ten months later I toured the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad with with COL Storm, the hospital commander, and he shared some amazing statistics with me. In March 2007, right after I left Fallujah the number of combat wounded American soldiers receiving initial treatment at the hospital hit an all time high of 179. By December 2007 that number had dropped to 80. And the trend line was in steady decline.

By contrast the number of combat wounded Iraqi Police (IP) and Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers being admitted to the hospital was on an up trend. The positive interpretation being that the IA and IP were finally really getting into the fight.

When I toured the hospital a majority of the patients were Iraqi children who had been injured by IED's, and wounded Iraqi insurgents, each with their own armed American guard. The only American patients I could find to talk to were there for non-combat injuries or illness.

The medivac crews I flew with also commented on the fact that things were slowing down, and that a much higher percentage of the missions they were flying were to pick injured Iraqis. I spent an entire day with them, and they only flew one mission, to pickup an injured IP soldier.

Now when I talk to soldiers there is definitely a new sense of optimism that was non-existent just 10 months ago. Nobody thinks the war will be over soon, but most people are coming to believe that it's winnable.

One of the most striking signs of progress to me is the number of Iraqis that wave at our helicopters as we fly over.

Tons of new pictures uploaded

I'm sitting in Kuwait at the Crown Plaza hotel waiting for my flight to Amsterdam, and I have great Internet access for the first time in two weeks, and I've uploaded a bunch of photos.

You can check them all out here: http://photos.scrappydog.com/Military/442690

Note: You can order prints or digital downloads of almost all my Iraq photos. Feel free to email me at photos@scrappydog.com if you have questions about ordering photos, or if you would like to order large prints.

Photo essay: Baghdad mission with Alpha 2-147

On Monday, January 14th 2008 I flew a routine "Baghdad shuffle" mission with two Minnesota National Guard Blackhawk crews from Alpha Company 2-147th Assault Helicopter Battalion. We carried a collection of Marine Corps and Air Force generals between Camp Liberty and the Green Zone, and back again several hours later, after a meeting was over presumably.



Crew chief SSG Michelle Smith watches the engines start at the beginning of the mission.

(click the image above to see the rest of the photo essay)

Photo essay: The helicopter fuelers of Echo 2-147

Here is a photo essay following SGT Benjamin Jury of Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii and SPC James Enright of Woodbury, Minnesota as they refuel Minnesota National Guard Blackhawk helicopters as well as Apache attack helicopters from other units in Balad, Iraq.



SGT Benjamin Jury of Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii fuels a Blackhawk helicopter.

(click the image above to see the rest of the photos in this series)

Medevac! Medevac! Medevac!

I went on a Medevac flight on Tuesday, with an active duty Medevac unit from Fort Cambell Kentucky. The Medevac pad is on the opposite side of the airfield from 2-147th AHB, and we just asked if we could hang out for the day, and go on some missions, and the Medevac company commander graciously made us right at home.

I didn't shoot very many photos, or any useful video on the one flight I was able to go on. I was pretty much stuck in my center seat without a lot of visibility, but it was an amazing experience that will definitely stick with me.



This photo of a flight medic racing to his helicopter on a razor scooter is one of my favorite images of this trip to Iraq.

Here is the choronology of my medevac mission:

I had just taken my first few bites of lunch with SSG Anthony Cox and SGT Carmen Catalioti the flight medic and crew chief of the medivac helicopter that I had been assigned to for the day when the big voice started blairing "Medevac! Medevac! Medevac!"

0:00 SSG Cox and SGT Catolioti push back their chairs and run for the door of the little chow hall behind the Medivac operation center. One of the other pilots asks if we want him to save our food... I don't think anybody answers.

1:00 I'm in the ready room frantically grabbing my video camera, body armor, and camera bag.

1:30 I'm outside the ready room looking for SSG Cox and SGT Catolioti. I see them sprinting to the aircraft half way down the flight line. Somebody says, "You better run!"

2:30 I'm on the helicopter, totally winded after running 100 meters carrying my body armor and camera gear. The rotors are starting to turn.

7:15 We are airborne! We take off very fast and are probably at less than 100 feet off the ground as we cross the wire of the base perimeter fence.

9:30 I'm listening on the headset. The pilot says we are headed to Samara (40 kilometer north along the Tigris river). We're less than 10 minutes out.

12:00 I'm in the trail aircraft, and I hear our pilot tell the lead aircraft to "Watch those power lines!" We're flying lower and faster than any helicopter ride I've ever been on. The TRQ LED display reads 90+%, and our airspeed never drops below 150 knots.

17:15 We're on the ground outside the wire at a Forward Operating Base (FOB) on the outskirts of Samara. No patient in sight. There is a brief discussion of whether or not we are at the right place.

19:00 An ambulance appears carrying an injured Iraqi Police officer. He has gunshot wounds to both thighs.

25:00 The patient is on board the lead aircraft.

27:00 Airborne again. We make several banking turns so steep that the rotors are almost perpendicular to the ground.

28:00 We are low and fast over downtown Samara.

34:00 Pilot, "We just went right over a flock of birds. I wonder how they like us flying over the top of them?"

37:00 My aircraft "07" is cleared by Balad control direct to the FARP (fuel point).

39:00 Crossing the Tigris river.

39:50 We hear over the radio that the lead aircraft "05" is on the ground at the "cas pad" (the helipad at the Air Force Theater Hospital).

41:20 "07" is on the ground at the FARP for a "hot" refuel with the engines running.

46:00 Full fuel.

47:15 Airborne. Cleared direct to the Medevac parking area. We go over the top of an F-16 sitting in the middle of the runway surrounded by emergency vehicles. Our pilots speculate that he has probably blown an engine.

50:10 Wheels down at the Medevac parking area.

55:00 Crew unloading personal weapons, "weapons green!"

55:45 Rotors stopped.

57:00 Pilot CW3 Tory Koselke comments that he has more "boots untied" flight hours in Iraq than "boots tied" flight hours. As he gets out of the aircraft and ties his desert combat boots. He was sleeping with his boots off when the alarm sounded, and he dashed to the aircraft without stopping to tie them.



Medevac pilot CW3 Tory Koselke, from Fort Cambell Kentucky ties his boots AFTER completing a Medevac mission in Balad, Iraq.

There is a very real sense that EVERY second counts. As one soldier tells me, "We go from 0 to 90 in 0 seconds when the alarm sounds!"

Commentary: The "garrisonification" of Iraq

PAX TERMINAL, BALAD, IRAQ - After almost four years operating out of a collection of tents, the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq recently moved into a new permanent facility that feels like a small regional hospital in the US. The floors shine, the light is bright, and the expansive nurses stations could be straight off the set of ER.



The nurses station of the intensive care ward at the new Balad Hospital.

Last year when I flew through Balad air base, the passenger terminal was a pleasant but obviously temporary plywood building. Ten months later the shiny new passenger terminal, where I wait for my flight to Kuwait, would be the envy of some some third-tier US feeder airports. Soldiers watch several networks on 50" plasma TV's as they wait for their flights, and while there is still a pallet of Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) in the corner, it's a short drive to Taco Bell, Burger King, or Subway.

Most soldiers live two to a room in comfortable prefabricated steel buildings that have heat and air conditioning with clean bathrooms and showers a short walk away outside. This reporter was provided with a single room with a shared bathroom in a new block of two story prefabricated apartment buildings. Soldiers with administrative jobs are working out of comfortable offices that feel fairly comparable to what they might expect at a base in the US.



Two story prefabricated apartments surrounded by blast walls.

As I leave Iraq for the second time in less than a year on a C130 headed for Kuwait I'm contemplating what, if anything, I've learned from this experience. Are there any conclusions I can draw about the course of the war, or the future of the US involvement in Iraq, or the future of the Iraqi people?

At the highest levels of our government there is no official vision for how long we will be in Iraq. But the facts on the ground in Iraq seem to show that individual agencies and local commanders have drawn their own conclusions and are planning for the US military presence to last indefinitely.

When asked how long they think the US presence might last, individual junior officers and soldiers I spoke to in Iraq and Kuwait speculated that we might be there for 10 to 20 years, or more... This mentality is resulting in a marked transformation on major bases in Iraq from the feeling of a combat zone, to the feeling of a state side garrison.

Soldiers shake their heads at the proliferation of new rules that seem to appear daily about things like speed limits, dress codes, and other minutia that seems out of place in a war, but would be typical of a major military base in the US. The recent rule in Balad that was most reviled by almost everyone I talked to was the outright ban on male soldiers entering female soldier quarters and vice versa for any reason.

I think the US involvement in Iraq can be compared to a complex ecosystem with thousands of organisms all working somewhat competitively on their own private agendas. The key point about a complex ecosystem is that there is no single commander who is really in control. The ecosystem is self perpetuating, and the momentum of organic growth drives major changes despite a lack of strategic direction.

There is a definite sense that for support soldiers in genuinely non-combatant roles that a tour in Iraq is becoming more like an unaccompanied tour in Korea than a typical combat tour in Iraq just a few years ago.

And so while presidential candidates posture and the house and senate pass resolutions and periodically make empty political threats to cut funding for the war, the Army and other federal agencies in Iraq, in the absence of clear executive leadership, are making individual decisions on the ground that presume a permanent US presence.

Note: It is critical to understand that I am speaking about conditions on major bases in Iraq, which are markedly different from the conditions that tens of thousands of combat soldiers, who put themselves in harms way on a daily basis, are living in on small Forward Operating Bases (FOB's) spread throughout Iraq.

Watch video on the the KSTP website

KSTP has setup an Iraq page with links to all the stories they are producing with the video I am sending from Iraq.

Check it out here: http://kstp.com/article/10651/

Sadr City mission photo essay

This photo essay tells the story of a typical mission day in Iraq for the 2-147th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the Minnesota National Guard. The mission includes a highly unusual landing at an Iraqi Police station in the heart of the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad.

The complete collection includes 50 photos, but due to bandwidth limitations it may take a few days to get them all uploaded. And there is also some "spirited debate" going on between me and the S-2 (Intelligence) section and various Public Affairs Officers over whether or not some of my pictures can be released to the public...



(Click the image above to like to the rest of the photos.)

First snow in Baghdad in recent history.

LSA ANACONDA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ - On Friday morning Minnesota National Guard soldiers here woke up to an unexpected taste of home. The first recorded snow fell in central Iraq in recent memory, various news organizations reported that it hasn't snowed in Baghdad in 60-100 years.



Here in Balad the 2-147th Assault Helicopter Battalion's Blackhawk helicopters were covered with a layer of snow. Many soldiers accused this reporter of bringing the weather with me from Minnesota, but most said they were happy to get a little taste of the winter they are missing back home.



CPT Andrea Ourada, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, from the Minnesota National Guard enjoying the surprise snowfall in Balad, Iraq.

A "routine" helicopter ride in Iraq

LSA ANACONDA, BALAD, IRAQ - You can feel the little thump through your feet on the metal floor as the flares fire from dispensers on the back of the Blackhawk helicopter. As the bright stars streak past your window, and the pilot begins to take evasive action you realize that there is nothing "routine" about a low altitude daylight helicopter ride over Iraq.



The flares job is to decoy heat seeking anti-aircraft missiles away from the helicopter. The flares are launched automagically when the computer thinks it detects a missile, and at the time I have no way of knowing if there is a real missile, or if this is a false positive. Has one of the door gunners has actually seen a missile? It's obvious we're not in Kansas anymore...

"How often do your helicopters take ground fire?", I ask Captain Andrea Ourada, a Blackhawk pilot with the Minnesota National Guard's 2-147 Assault Helicopter Battalion.

"Almost everyday", she replies matter of factly.

"And how often do they hit you?"

"Less than once a month. They aren't very good shots." She says with a grin.

Flying north from Baghdad on my first ride in a Minnesota National Guard helicopter I'm surprised by how low we fly. I can see farmers herding sheep and cattle, I can see children playing in their yards, and I am surprised by the number of Iraqis that wave at the helicopters!

On this ride John and I are just regular passengers because we haven't had a chance to meet any of the Minnesota soldiers yet. We just ran out to the running helicopter at Washington LZ in the Green Zone, and threw our bags onboard... not time for chit chat. On future flights we'll be wearing headsets so that we can hear what the crew is saying, and ask questions when they aren't too busy.

Late in the ride I see a group of US military vehicles parked along a road near a fire that appears to have started on the shoulder of the road, and spread to the ditch. I have no way to know for sure, but to my inexperienced eye it certainly looks like an IED explosion has caused a fire. I can only hope that it was a controlled detonation (meaning that the IED was detected and then destroyed by soldiers before it could do any harm).

As we hop out of the running helicopter on the taxi way in Balad, one of the pilots gives me a cheery smile and a thumbs up. Just another normal day at the office for him.