Of course, we had to get up to speed on our contact-drills very quickly - in this business it's vital to know how to react (and how your team-mates will react) in the event of a contact with insurgents:

A sneaky pic someone took of me while training at the crossed-swords:

Driving in Baghdad can be rough:

The Green Zone in Baghdad is the central, Coalition Forces-controlled part of Baghdad - a huge area where Saddam had his palaces on the banks of a 90-degree bend in the Tigris River. Very high security at the check-points into the Green Zone - deadly force is authorised against vehicles that don't stop quickly enough. Here's a view just after passing through the checkpoint:

Here's a pic of the market, or souk, inside the GZ: