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Today, we presented our Iraqi Army counterparts with parting gifts.  The team may have a few weeks left in our deployment, but today was Major Brtooott's last day.  The rest of the team will continue to mentor and advise the Iraqis until we hand the task off to the new, incoming team.

We gave the unit a one-piece, stained-glass plaque as a symbol of appreciation and unity.  Also, we gave each officer on the staff a certificate.  Iraqis love certificates from the U.S. Army.  Iraqi officers frame them and put them up on display in their office.

The brigade commander accepted the unit award.  After we had a seat, he talked with us about the U.S. soccer team and their upcoming game versus Brazil for the Continental Cup on Sunday. 

According to the colonel, the joke on Iraqi television was that the president of Egypt issued a presidential order for the Egyptian team to lose the game to the U.S.  After all, Egypt is our ally, and the U.S. soccer team could credibility on the world stage.  But then the U.S. beat Spain, and now everyone takes the U.S. team quite seriously.  Now the Iraqis believe that the U.S. can win.

Days like today make our redeployment seem all the more closer, even if we continue to work for a bit longer.  Honestly, days like today make the day that combat troops seem closer.

The Iraqi commander was quite embarrassed that he was not in uniform for this presentation. He nearly made us wait for him to change.

One of our interpreters reads the commander his certificate to him. Notice the wallpaper and decorations in his office, I intend to write about it in coming days.

The Iraqis found this cache of explosives today. This is a very regular activity. There still seems to be a supply of buried weapons in the area, and the Iraqi Army is constantly working. I just cannot continue to cover the same story about a found cache.

I just met these four Soldiers and the one taking the picture today a few minutes before the picture. All I had to do was chat with them for awhile in broken Arabic, and they quickly accepted me as friend. The team still meets new Soldiers and officers on a regular basis.

Captain Jay Alaniz's (right) mother requested a picture to be published in his hometown newspaper. This is not the best shot, but I like seeing the three of us smiling together, Sergeant KC Connaughton being the Soldier in the middle. The three of us have been close throughout this deployment.