LAKE BELADIYAT

This is Lake Beladiyat. I couldn't describe it through words so I had to take a picture. This is a glimpse of the lake, it still stretches about 800 meters to the left and 200 meters to the right of this picture. There are four MRAP vehicles in this photo as well. You can only see three of the vehicles because one is behind the farthest vehicle...that's the vehicle stuck in the mud and grime. If you look at the picture closely you can see where the road should be as identified by the mounds of dirt on the side of the road. Be aware that all of this water is not really water...it's raw sewage from backed up sewage lines caused by 6 hours of rain.
In the distance, on the right side of the photo, you can see a radio tower. That radio tower is part of the Red Cresent complex (a hospital). That place wasn't always a hospital. When I was here in 2003 it used to be the UN Compound. For those of you who have seen my pictures from my first deployment you would know that this place was hit by a vehicle-born IED - a dump truck of explosives - and had killed the UN Chief. The day of that occurrence I flew around that compound for 6 hours while they tried to secure and clean up the mess. So, based on this, you should know that I am currently working in a place that I flew over for 12 months in my first deployment. It brings back memories.
The unit in this picture is not us. This is another element that was supposed to link up with us at the NP Headquarters but had to turn around because they kept getting stuck. That means that every time they got stuck someone had to get out of the vehicle, step into the sewage and then link their vehicle with another one to get towed out. Doesn't sound fun, does it? Not more than four days ago I had to do the same thing. I didn't fall in like my buddy, but I had to get knee-deep in that crap. It wasn't fun AT ALL!! I lost a pair of boots to that mess!