So I want to start this with Letting you know The Armed Forces Entertainment was launched in 1951, this is a tradition of entertainment or our warriors class only next to the USO, which started 10 years earlier.
We went to load into the black hawks. We went to the landing area, and the air traffic controllers wanted to know if we wanted to check out the tower? My dad works ATC, so we decided to go up, great view and carol fell on the steps and bruised her knees (explain that one to Todd-her husband- “performing for the troops hey..” wink, wink!!) On the bright side she may get a purple heart, injured in a combat zone.
Excuse me, what’s that? Durka Durka. Nintendo Wi? What?
That’s right, ICEMAN I’m Dangerous.
Arrive at Camp Falcon: It was a former Raider Camp. Lt. Colonel of the base had a meet and greet and gave us coins to have us remember Falcon. He was excellent, he reminded me of Don Rickles on Steroids. He told us we were the first show they had in a year. People kept canceling on them. Their rights outside Baghdad allot of civilians work there, and their population is around 2000.
The show was on an outdoor basketball court next to a softball field in the middle of the base, and it was terrific, they filled a bunch of bleachers and set out a green room up as a bomb shelter with green sandbags. The show was amazing, maybe 400 peeps showed up. This is our Greenroom right Next to The Stage.
Ok, so I’m like the chubby Bob Hope.
After the show I got a lovely surprise. A friend from high school who also lives about 2miles from my parents came over to me and said hi! It was unbelievable- he changed so much, grew a foot or two, and grew into a man. Mike Creed was a neighbor, fellow football player, offensive lineman, I graduated with his sister, and we met up outside Baghdad. How small is this world?
Riccadonnas Angels. PS anyone notices Carol is way too excited every time she touches a gun!! This is Felicia Micheals, Carol Montgomery, and Leighan Lord.
We went to the mess hall, a little known thing. Christmas 2004, the dining hall had a backpack bomber, so that’s why there are no bags “in the mess.” Also, You have to check your weapon every time you enter a building (by check, I mean, you point a gun towards the sand and clear the chamber).
Now we are off to JJS Nasir Wa Salam, and in the black hawk, I got to sit in the gunner’s seat. This is a fantastic view. We saw some smoking building and checked it out. A pilot told me when they get hit by gunfire, it sounds like popcorn.
As soon as we landed at Camp, we could see men and only men ran this. It’s a shared camp where they train Iraqi soldiers. Lieutenant Kay was a big man who came across as scary but ended up being as lovely as can be. These guys had a giant Motor pool and allot of Mechanics. There were no women on base.
As Kruiser put it: This is just Mark Being Mark. I was so excited to see tanks, this wasn’t a tank but a Striker with a turret.
The show was in the Cafeteria, It was by far the dirtiest show we did this week, they where loving dirty Jokes. When The Show was over, we went to Lt. Kays office and talked about family life, how comics and soldiers have a similar experience with wives and kids, and the road. This was a great night, and everyone was so tired. We have a crazy day tomorrow, so when we got home, we all went to bed on the early side.
I’m in bed, right at the out of it, and about to fall deep into sleep when something wakes me up. I come to, and almost in slow motion, I see the door to Steven, Colonel, and I Bunker open. Two figures walk in, one has a mag light, one has a red light, and they flash it at the colonel and at Steven, I don’t know what’s going on, so I slowly spring up (if that makes sense to you) and the guy says don’t worry we are here for the meeting tomorrow, we were supposed to get in early today. I almost crapped my pants. The election is coming up, and there is all kind of action going on. We also may be closing some base’s so all the big wigs are getting together.
These are both sets of Gunners. These guys are badass! The second pic is the guys in my chopper. And the man standing in the second pic had the monster mask (below).
It is very rare to get to go up to a chopper with the blades not swinging. Thank god for these guys who were at the show. 
We are getting loaded in. These are the guys who flew us to and from The Korean Village, so they got to stay for our show. A great way to become friends with pilots is to do a show for them where you reference them as much as possible, get photos with them, and then on the flight back, get a hold of your headphones and crack as many jokes as possible without pissing them off. They told me their favorite people they flew around were Willie Nelson and Chuck Norris. I was laughing out loud, Pilot Carlos Montes had us laughing with jokes, and everyone started joining in, fat jokes, mom jokes and ripping on each other. They were so open and relaxed, we even got the Colonel in on it.
