Sorry for the lack of updates. We’ve been going and going and going and internet is scarce in most of these places. Not really the kind of setting for wireless internet, know what I mean? Let me bring you up to speed.
Day 3: We started our morning out heading to airport, and to fly out to JSS Shield. As you can see in the picture, locals loaded our gear onto a pallet while we stood around. 
Outside the airport were several bunkers where Uday and Qusay Hussein housed their planes. We bombed the bejesus out of them, and they stand there all destroyed, a symbol of how badass our army is. Finally getting to put on our sweet kevlar vests and helmets, we boarded a C130 with about 60 troops. This plane is a mammoth, and possibly one of the most uncomfortable things to sit on ever created. When landing, they do a combat landing. Instead of your normal commercial plane landing, on a nice, long decent, you pretty much just dip and dive and shuck and jive to the ground, in order to avoid any potential fire from the enemy. Talk about flying the friendly skies.
Once we landed there, we hopped in these intense armored vehicles called MRAPS. Serious stuff, these things. Think a Hummer on HGH. 
We had about a 2 hour drive to the base, during which we discovered that the MRAP is possibly the 2nd most uncomfortable thing to sit in. 
We got there, set up in an area that is essentially a rec area (basketball court type area). The crowd was quite diverse, Americans, Ugandans, Iraqis. 
Outside the walls of the base, a big number of Iraqi civilians and soldiers stood on top of a roof and watched the show. The Americans got right into the show, the others took a while, but eventually they were dancing and screaming and having just as much fun as everyone else. After the show, we were given another coin, this one for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pretty neat.
That night we began our lodging and one of Saddam’s many palaces. It’s a big ornate place, with big ornate furniture. Impressive to say the least. We ended up actually sleeping in trailers outside the palace. Not really knowing what to expect wherever we go, I’m just glad to have a pillow and a roof over my head.
Day 4:
Woke up in the morning, and hit golf balls off his back porch into the lake surrounding his palaces. How’s this for messed up…while Saddam was building his palaces, he rerouted the water from Baghdad to fill his manmade lakes. It’s a symbol of power and wealth to live on the water here. In doing so, he managed to ruin many farmers’ land and livestock. 
Then he blamed it on the Americans. Only after he was killed did the people find out the truth. Also, he and his posse had a belief that they could do whatever they wanted on the water, so they often brought people there to be killed, tortured, raped, etc. Classy. So it seems fitting that we hit some golf balls into his water. Jerkface.
Finally boarding our first blackhawk helpicopter. Now this is a cool experience. 
These things are packing heat on the sides, 2 gunners constantly on the lookout. We flew to the base at Sadr City. Not long ago, this place was the most dangerous place in Baghdad. It’s built essentially right outside of the slums of Baghdad, and was the hotspot for battle for quite a while.
Took a tour of the base, met alot of the soldiers there, including all the guys in the Aid Room (medics), who were super cool guys. 
Played the show in a courtyard. These shows all seem to kinda start out the same. Everyone is sitting on benches or chairs about 10 or 20 feet from us. We start playing and after about 20 minutes, they’re getting closer and closer to the stage and starting to cut loose, and by the end, they’re all going nuts. Love it. They all tell us how much they need to have some fun like this and get their minds off of the constant grind they go through. I’m glad I can be a part of that for them.
After that, we drove to a base called UR for a night show. Apparantly Ur is now one of the current hot spots for action. The army postal service won’t go out there. Awesome, let’s do this. A very quite, on edge type place. They’ve had several attacks quite recently. While we’re setting up, Regina and I are talking with Bob, a civilian who works for the Army guiding bands around, kind of the liason between Army folks and us common folk. So while we’re talking, having a nice little convo….”POP! POP! POP POP POP POP!” Gunfire. Of the 30 or so soldiers who were sitting in the area we’re playing, about 15 or so jump up, grab their guns and go running. Regina and I stand there thinking “um….where do WE go? Where’s our vest and helmet? Hello?” Now while this happens, there’s still about 15 soldiers sitting on couches and beanbags. Dwight, who always has words of wisdom that can only come from a Mississippi guy, says, “Well, when they guys in the bean bags get up, then I’ll worry about it.” Sure enough, the soldiers came back after about 2 minutes. “There’s nothing to worry about,” they tell us. If they say it, that’s good enough for me. 
Pre show, the officer in charge there tells us he’s so glad we made it, no other band ever has or ever has wanted to. But if we hear or see and fire of blasts, they’ll be sure to escort us quickly to safety. Awesome, let’s do this. Show goes off without a hitch thankfully. Another success.
Day 5:
Nice, an off day! We all finally get to sleep in a bit, feeling fresh, hitting a few more golf balls. I hit one over the lake last night into the other palace across the way. Sweet! We get to go out to the Special Ops shooting range and play with their guns. There we were, musicians firing automatic weapons, blowing the hell out of targets. 
Each gun was more badass than the next. The guys explained how they all work and were extremely cool. As nice as they are, it’s neat to know that they could tear me limb from limb if they chose to. Glad I’m on their team. 
One the guys kinda looked like Shouppe, my old bass player from TGD. Here we are after blowing some stuff away…
During our driving that day, we really got to understood that Saddam had a big thing for palaces. He had quite alot of them. Several vacation palaces, hunting palaces, a palace that served essentially as a harem. Again, classy. When he was captured and killed, he was working on one that he called the “Victory Over America” palace. It sits unfinished. 
Booya. Went to a little gathering that evening with some of the Special Ops guys, where they were cooking out and playing Rock Band. It’s great to see these guys get to cut loose and have a bit of fun. They’ve got alot on their plates, they deserve it.
Bull...Elephant....what's the difference?
Day 6:
This morning we headed out to Huseinayah, another base, about a 45 minute blackhawk ride from our new lodging in the Special Ops area. Got up and set up in the DFAC (dining facility) for our first indoor show of the tour. Find out that we’d be playing during their lunch. So we start playing, essentially to a cafeteria full of soldiers. Like a bizzare high school talent show. I really didn’t know how this show would go over, but as is par for the course, by the end, it was great, everyone was going crazy, Americans, Ugandans, Iraqis. A great show. Some really nice folks. Big success.
We’d started noticing yesterday that it seemed to be getting a bit overcast. Rumor was a sandstorm was coming. Well, it’s here. We’re actually stuck at Huseinayah, all flights are grounded. It was an erie orangish color all day, and by early evening you could hardly see 200 yards infront of you. It’s pretty dusty out there. And this isn’t even as bad as it gets. Oh well. Bought all 6 Rocky movies and all 4 Rambo’s for $5. Score!
There’s actually this really cool show called Man Caves, on the DIY network, and on one episode I recently saw, they renovated a camp’s USO station. Well, it was Camp Virginia. I immediate recognized it. Very sweet digs. 
It’s a bit different not having our amps with us, and it took us some time to get the sounds we wanted perfected. Not having the sound of the amps takes a bit of getting used to, but we’ll keep going at it.
