Movin' on up

The blog is moving. Check out my new website and blog.

Patrol Base K-Wal

Click here for the audio slide show.

WIP Recap

Melissa Lyttle did a great job getting folks up to speed on last weekend's Women in Photojournalism Conference.

Do The Right Thing

http://www.freebilal.org/

Streets of Baghdad

See the audio slide show:
http://www2.mysanantonio.com/news/graphics/20070603streetsofbaghdad/index.html

Almost

Allan Detrich would have a field day with this photo.

I know How He Feels

Back home.

The Mouse That Roared

Well, a few days turned into 9. Big thanks to sandstorms and Mil Air. I'm in Kuwait and will be headed home shortly.

Gone Fishing

The blog will be out making pictures next week. Check back in a few days. Until then here's the original blog, the one and only Julie Mason: http://blogs.chron.com/whitehouse/

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

Dr. (Capt.) Brian Krakover shows First Lt. Nathaniel Wilson his x-ray as emergency room technician Sgt. Bowie Sessions checks his hand in the emergency room at the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 11, 2007. Wilson was shot in the elbow by a sniper while on patrol in Dora. He asked doctors to stay in Baghdad to recover so that he could return to duty sooner. "I can't go home. I'll worry about my men too much," Wilson pleaded. He also flirted with every woman in the room. I think, he's going to be just fine.

A House Divided

Spc. Tim Arnold, from left, Spc. David Taterian, and Spc. Thomas Hutchens gather around their nightly rations as Iraqi Army soldiers and a translator eat a traditional dinner on the floor at Patrol Base K-wal in Shakarah, Iraq, Tuesday, March 27, 2007. American and Iraqis are working together more and more but cultural differences are still readily apparent. The small outpost is dedicated to Spc. Stephen Kowalczyk who was killed by a sniper on March 14. First Cavalry Division soldiers from Ft. Hood and a group of Iraqi Army soldiers rented a three-story house and are fighting to keep the city out of the hands of Sunni insurgents that have long controlled the Diyala valley. "We basically inserted ourselves in the middle of the Islamic State," says commander Capt. Kevin Bradley of Stratford, New Jersey.

(Not) Above It All

I was tired of covering the funerals of soldiers nearly half my age that should have had a lifetime ahead of them. So, I came to Iraq to get to know them now because even if they survive their lives will never be the same. Here I am, but the funerals never stop.

Some Kind Of Blue

Spc. Rebecca Booker, of Austin, crochets at Forward Operating Base Normandy in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, Monday, March 19, 2007. In between stitches, she rushes to a landing pad and refuels military helicopters. It is a strange dichotomy to see something so completely domestic alternated with the precise mechanics of war. "I use to have to knit when I got in trouble. Now I knit because I'm in Iraq," Booker said.

Ego Trip

But who am I to judge. Back home in Texas, my door do-hickey says, "I'm out saving the world."

Just Another Manic Monday

An Iraqi Army soldier staggers out of a Humvee after flagging down a U.S. convoy on a highway in central Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 2, 2007. He was injured by a car bomb in nearby Dora. Army medic Sgt. Cynthia White, 23, of Rialto, Calif., treated two soldiers wounded in the blast. Violence in Baghdad has decreased but it has spread to outlying areas.

Tell Me What You Really Think

A Time magazine cover of Hillary Clinton gives an unknown soldier the opportunity to prove that the pen really is mightier than the sword at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad, Iraq, Monday, March 12, 2007. It's no surprise that members of the military are disproportionately conservative. Even so, it is not in their culture to talk politics, especially with the media. But who needs words anyway. This is a photo blog after all. You just have to be an amateur anthropologist to know which way the wind blows. The television in the passenger terminal is on Fox News, check. The assistant Chaplain wants Gov. Rick Perry to visit, check. And the guy next me is reading The American Spectator, check.

I Shot Andy Warhol. . .

Well, not exactly. But Saddam's fifteen minutes are ticking on Haifa Street, Wednesday, April 4, 2007.

I *Heart* Patrol Base K-Wal

See you "Bread Basket" boys real soon.

Men At Work

Even in Iraq, there's no escape from the dreaded building mug.

Teach Your Children Well

Desks are stacked in an empty schoolhouse in Shakarah, Iraq, Thursday, March 29, 2007. Why don’t you show us the good news in Iraq, like the schools? It is a constant refrain from a frustrated populace. I share their disappointment but I’m afraid that Iraq has devolved into a place where there is very little news that is untainted by the conflict and is purely good. In fact, I do not know of any. Yes, the U.S. has spent millions of dollars on schools and the Iraqi infrastructure. But in my three trips to Iraq, I have seen numerous schools and only one had students in it. The rest are abandoned like relics from a western ghost town. I have also seen beautiful new water towers sit empty because drivers are too fearful to fill them after a fellow driver was spotted slumped over his steering wheel with a bullet in his head. Iraq is not America. If we build it, they may not come.

A Few Good Iraqis

An Iraqi soldier bursts into uncontrollable laughter after spotting a recruiting poster while on a foot patrol in Shakarah, Iraq, Wednesday, March 28, 2007. It seems fitting at a time when the Iraqi Army and U.S. soldiers are working together more than ever that they also share the same nihilistic sense of humor about re-enlistment. In 2005, I witnessed a group of American soldiers erupt in dark cackles while watching a commercial to re-up on Armed Forces Network. I'm not sure why there is something so reassuring in global cynicism.

Iraq Redux

I'm a few weeks into my third trip to Iraq. Sorry I've haven't
posted more photos. I'll try to update this new Iraq Blog as
time permits. I sure miss good old SA. At least, I'm not alone.

Excellent

See the slide show of Bill and Ted's Final Adventure. Thanks Anita.
http://www2.mysanantonio.com/specials/20070331oldpilotsfinal2/

Dual Reality

Check out the audio slide show. Thanks Billy.
http://www2.mysanantonio.com/specials/20070317iraq/