Hi Everybody,

It's been a while since I've sent some photos or an update of how things are going.  It's still busy around here and the pace has picked up a bit lately but, it's all good.

On 11MAY05 the 29th BCT PAO came down for a visit.  During the visit some of the PAO soldiers went with us on a patrol, attached are some of their photos.

The pix are from two of the villages we patrol where the local populace is positive towards Coalition Forces.  We receive a lot of donations and extra’s from our care packages that we share with the villages.  You’ll also see that our soldiers are doing really well interacting with the locals.  More and more of our soldiers are learning Arabic, how to count in Arabic and recognize Arabic numerals, and overall developing a good rapport.  At first glance one might think that a lot of these photos were staged, such as our men playing marbles with the kids or helping fix a bicycle.  In reality, this is just part of our daily interaction with many of the locals.

Take Care,
Joel