Hi Cardinal Fans, we are on day 8 of our Iraq tour, we stayed in one of the main palaces surrounded by the man made lake. Our morning was planned out to visit 3 different FOBS in middle Iraq, however we were not able to fly out today due to "Red Air" which means the air is way to dusty which makes visibility 3 miles out or more hard to see. We learned that the summer months tend to be the worst time for this type of weather.
We missed our first flight, but still had a chance to catch a 2 PM flight to visit troops, so we killed time by heading down to the Bazaar, it's the American term for "swap-meet". From military patches, to rugs, to jewelry the Bazaar was a great place to buy gifts for friends and family back home. We also had a chance to visit the "Baghdad Golf and Country club" just outside of our hotel. It was a lovely time getting some practice in for my golf swing. It wasn't your typical golf range with grass, I was hitting balls into the large lake off two small golf pads using tees, balls and clubs that have been donated by our fellow Americans to the soldiers here in Iraq. The girls and I were able to meet some soldiers who joined us and even gave Amy and Marcie a couple of pointers on their swing.
Two o'clock rolls around and we were still in the "Red Air" warning so all flights ended up being canceled for the day. We were looking forward to meeting new crews of the Black-hawks and flying over to a few FOBS to do meet and greets, however weather played a big part in preventing that from happening.
Instead our contact here, which I will give a "shout-out" to... Hi Rica... ended up pulling some major strings and we were able to put on a very last minute show here in Baghdad for the troops at Camp Victory. With only word of mouth, we had a crowd of about 100 men and women who came to our show. We were able to provide pictures and signed posters to everyone in attendance.
Although our day did not play out as planned, it turned out to be our best show yet, our troops really enjoyed it. The energy was high and we were happy to share some smiles and give hi-fives to some new faces we met today. We'll keep you tuned in to our adventures for the last few days we have here to spend with our military family.
Go Big Red!
Kalani
