Interior of a HUMVEE on convoy duty. If ambushed, the men on the side of the ambush were expected to crawl across the equipment and exit through the opposite side of the vehicle.

Oakes standing in front of a Blackhawk helicopter.

FOB Q-West perimeter consisting of a chain-link fence topped with barbwire backed up by a dirt berm. Notice the dump on the left consisting of destroyed Iraqi vehicles.

Entrance ramp to an underground power plant at FOB Q-West. In the background is Area 51, where civilian fuel trucks from Turkey would wait to be unloaded.

Area 51, the parking / staging area for civilian 7,500 gallon tanker trucks.

Constructing a perimeter of rails around the motor pool at the HHD 1225th Battalion HQ.

Interior of the living quarters at the airfield in Mosul (FOB Diamondback).

Albanian soldiers stationed at FOB Diamondback.

Civilians houses overlooking FOB Diamondback in Mosul.

Captured Iraqi armor just outside the wire of FOB Diamondback.

Captured Iraqi armor sitting at FOB Morez.

Unmanned aerial drone in the center of the picture on the airfield at FOB Diamondback.

MSR Tampa from the air. The MSR is the Main Supply Route coming out of Turkey extending all the way to Badaq.

Iraqi ammo dump just outside the wire of FOB Q-West. Most of the bunkers are abandoned and people are living in some of them.

The former Iraqi VIP building on FOB Q-West showing Cruise missile damage.

Oakes and his men preparing for their first convoy from FOB Q-West to Balad in April 2005.

Iraqi civilians looking for work just outside the gate of FOB Q-West.

Iraqi cemetery along MSR Tampa between FOB Q-West and FOB Balad.

Part of the Samarra bypass, a wall built around a hostile Iraqi town for protection of the convoys.

Convoy traveling down MSR Tampa. On-coming traffic has stopped to permit the convoy to go. Note that the convoy travels down the center of the road to avoid IEDs on the edge of the road.

Armored HUMVEE gun truck escorts from the convoy. The sign on the back warns of danger to stay back in both Arabic and English.

DURMO yard at FOB Balad. This is the area where all the discarded equipment is brought; everything from tanks to refrigerators.

Gypsy farmers in a field between Mosul and FOB Q-West

A flock of sheep and their herders.