August 18, 2004
The Cutest Girl in Qatar
The pool at the Balad Air Base
Karl and Earl [Staff Sergeant Karl O. Soto-Pinedo of San Juan, Puerto Rico – KIA 02/27/07 – Baghdad, Iraq]
Me trying to look cool at the “bar”. Notice the awesome pentagram belt buckle. All hail Satan!
I always thought rave kids would love the Army because of the ready availability of chem lights to do their chem light dances. I was right. Here a raver-kid/combat-soldier does the chem light-swinging dance thing on the dance floor at the bar.
Lawrence chatting with Chris
With Chris
The coastal skyline of Doha, Qatar
Doha has got to be the most immaculate and most boring place on earth
The Amir’s palace
Starbucks– approaching world domination by taking over one culture at a time
Returning from Qatar, the view of my area of operations in Iraq, as seen from the plane
October 11th, 2005 at 10:07 pm
You are a lovely man.
October 14th, 2005 at 6:48 am
u show a lot of ignorance and close minded attitude of other cultures. but i guess someone with IQ as low as urs is bound to be ignorant – btw – the party is in the desert – not in the city. unless u go to puloma. and sometimes on the islands.
qatar is one of the most sophisticated countries in the world. (and rich..) ur comments piss me off in the way u speak of these people as below u – because, it seems to me, u r incredibly slow
btw – hot belt
October 22nd, 2005 at 8:13 pm
Sexy Blonde,
Before you decide to call names to someone who is fighting for our country, maybe you should take a long look at yourslef. At least Mr.Hartley is not to lazy to actually spell out words. Maybe it is that you do not know how to spell, or you are just plain lazy. Which is it? Mr. Hartley you are doing your fellow Americans proud. Thank You
October 24th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
this is a comment for sexyblonde who wrote in on Oct. 14.
They way you seem to know about Qatar tells me one thing. You spent way to much time there makeing way to much money. Maybe if you got off your pog ass and joined the real fight you would not make such assinine comments.
November 12th, 2005 at 12:33 am
Greetings,
How you can serve for the commander in grief who is a fascist, BIG liar, traitor, draft dodger, oil robber barron, zionist lover, alcoholic, murder, war criminal who need to be jailed & just is just an all around TOTAL ASSHOLE along w/ his brain C. Rogue & limp dick cheney is hard to imagine. These SLOBS lie & you guys die. How cool is that?? So when can I sign up, right???
This filthy war is about stealing saddam’s soil & making sure our little brother country israel is safe & sound. To believe otherwise is to be totally misinformed!
Saddam only terrorized his country JR here, has terrorized the world. Maybe he is the anti-christ! Did you ever think of that?
Truth & peace,
GI Joe
November 25th, 2005 at 2:58 am
Hi,
Fight because Saddam is terrorizing the region beause he has contacts with bin-Ladin or whatever..hmmm that did not work
How about: fight Saddam to free the region from the MDW and any terrorism that is threatining the regin. Yeah this souds good, United Nation said no MDW found, Bush : Shut up you don’t know he is hiding them work harder. United Nation prepared 10,000 pages of documents free of MDW. Bush: Naaah I don’t believe you I am going to war. Free Iraq from Saddam Hussien ,, yeah thats sounds more credible and supportive by the nation and congress.
The sad news is: American soldiers DIE DAILY and bush laughs with his compain because they already have controled the LARGEST OIL RESERVE in the world ( almost twice Saudia Arabia.) Bush lies and soldiers die.
Do you really believe that you will set this country free. Do you know that you terrorized Iraq more than every before 100 times worse than Saddam. I hate Saddam, but he surely did a better job than you guys unfortunately. What you did to Iraq was actually terrorizing Iraq while bush steels oil daily.
Great job terrorizing Iraq and keeping the whole world busy from Bush’s theft and war crimes.
finally, wake up from the brain wash and leave people alone to live and choose their own destiny. Leave Iraq, the middle-east and the whole world in peace. Life is much better without Americans. Bush made all of Americans unwelcomed anywhere in the world. what are you fighting for .
Bush is either the Anti-Christ or preparing for the Anti-christ, whole will rule the world with “DEMOCRACY”
by the way: the picture for Amir Palace is actually his WORK Place known as “Diwan” not his Palace.
December 30th, 2005 at 2:22 pm
Ya, Joe Riley and “Witness” – you two CLOWNS are the most ignorant FOOLS, as well as anti-Jewish BIGOTS, that I have ever witnessed.
It makes me sick that we in the Armed Forces has to put our lives at risk for dipshits like the two of you!!!
And, please, do everyone a favor and ACTUALLY research the facts instead of watching Michael Moore movies!!! Get a life!
January 3rd, 2006 at 5:20 pm
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”
— Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
January 6th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
To All You Idiots who think BUSH is somehow killing everybody and this war on TERROR is stupid and a ploy for the almighty BUSH to control oil:
What has happened on US soil since we engaged in a war on TERROR, which the enemy started on 9/11??
NOTHING!! You sick people must want the US to wait like we did during Slick Willie’s watch and then say, THANK GOD 9/11 didn’t happen on my watch!! No one can blame me for it!! (Slick Willie is the media-hungry male Clinton) Do any of you peace doves think that it’s just a coincidence that nothing has happened on US soil since 9/11?? Gimme a break…
How many military lives were lost in Vietnam over a seven year period versus a nearly four year period in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Thousands and thousands and thousands of our military personnel were killed in just seven years’ time in a pointless Vietnam war. What, do you think Vietcong were here on US soil, waiting to blow us up, like what we have to deal with today??
Less than 3,000 have died with honor in nearly four years’ time in our current War on Terror.
What do you think the rest of the world is saying about you crybabies who say we have lost too many lives in the War on Terror?? They are saying that the US is weaker now because they can’t even handle less than 3,000 lives in four years, when during Vietnam, they lost tens of thousands of lives in less than double the time.
So the world is laughing at the US, not because we are defending ourselves pointlessly(which isn’t the case), but because they believe(incorrectly) we can’t handle the cost of defending ourselves(the lives lost) when we handled it much better during Vietnam.
ONE LIFE LOST IS TOO MUCH, but for you sissies out there who believe that we are wasting our time defending the US, you will be the first ones, if another 9/11 happens, saying, “Why were we not better protected against something like this when it happened to us before(9/11)??”
You people make me sick… if you want to sympathize with terrorists, then go and live with them… America doesn’t need you!!
Mark (ttsdad1028@yahoo.com)
January 30th, 2006 at 12:43 am
Damn…all this political mumbo jumbo talk. I ain’t seen one comment about that blonde girl. She’s hot as hell. :)
February 19th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
People please, surely you dont think George Bush is running all this himself…God…hes a puppet.
He’s just holding the position and doing what hes told…wake up kids
May 12th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Do not listen to these liberal college aged know it alls. I’m in college and fully support your efforts in Iraq. Iraq is not about Saddam or WMDs. Iraq is the center of a conservative idea (progressive) that aims to make the world safer via the spread of democracy. It is also a battleground on which our troops can kill terrorists from many countries without having to invade each individual country. The strategy behind this war is far more complex than witness’s ignorant analysis. Bush was filthy rich before the war, the belief that he invaded Iraq for oil is ridiculous. The cost of life and treasure far outweighs any effort to secure oil fields. It simply as a liberal conspiracy theory. Liberals have no solution to fighting Islamic Radicalsim, and simply destroying the middle east is not the proper method. We must implant something organic, something that leads to a better world, and that is the seed of democracy. Remember, anytime someone says Saddam was better for Iraq you know they’re an idiot so you can simply ignore their delusional rantings that they post from their protected desk. We Americans sleep peacefully at night only because soldiers defend our nation.
Thank you for your service. God Bless You.
July 8th, 2006 at 1:29 am
Thank you John. well said.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:12 am
wow. “sexyblond” “witness” and “Joe Riley” are complete dumbfucks. “oh no! bush is a bastard killing people for oil, ahhh!!!” wow. bush cant do anything without the approval of a hell of a lot of other people. also, we are securing peace so we can create democracy for the iraqi people to have their own government. i think democracy sounds a hell of a lot better than dictatorship run by a dumbfuck who killed his way into power (literally, he shot anyone in power that opposed him) think about it. our troops kill people who are evil-doers (of course there is accidental civillian death as in all wars) and saddam just killed anyone he felt like.
Thanks to our troops we are not getting raped by terrorists on our own soil.
mad props jason for the book. i love it. very interesting
and for those of you paying attention to the news, Isreal is so gonna kick lebanons ass. but we shall see.
August 24th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
In reply to nick. Isreal didnt kick any ass now did they?
They backed out, so the fact is Lebanon with the help of Hezbolah, (who are actually Lebanease) won!
So far… The world is weird ain’t it?
October 27th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Hezbolah won? Isreal just stopped fighting, seems like their politicians were fighting this one, not the isreali generals. Isreal would have cleaned Hezbola virus’s clock if they kept fighting. Isreal better watch it they can’t afford to have weak leaders calling the shots on the battle field. Speaking of calling the shots on the battle field, good old Don Rumsfield is totaly fucking up. He keeps making mistake after mistake in this war and Bush won’t fire him. Don has had his chance and has failed, time for him to step aside and let someone else try.
Hey Josh, good book. I was in Iraq around the same time as you. I’m a navy corpsman, went over with a marine reserve battalion. We ran patrols out of Al Asad for a few months and the rest of the time up at the Haditha dam. It was the experience/adventure of a life time. You folks that haven’t been can’t comment, you will never know.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Holy crap, how much weight did you lose while you were in Iraq? In these Qatar pictures you are SO skinny!
BTW, just finished your book. I laughed, cried, was annoyed, sickened, and impressed – not all at the same time, of course!
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
July 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Jenifer- Here’s the fucked up thing: being that skinny is how I’ve always looked. I weighed 149 when I enlisted at the age of 17. Since my twenties, I’ve always weighed about 165. Now that I’ve been back for two-and-a-half years, I’ve managed to fatten up and I now weigh 185. Actually, I just got back from a vacation where all I did was eat cheese and drink wine in Old Greenwich, CT. Now I weigh 193. I have officially become a fat skinny guy. Be grateful there aren’t any recent pictures of me!
-Jason
January 14th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
ok MR G.I JOE
you are completely rude! so what you hate bush!? just about everyone does but even if you don’t support bush that doesnt mean you should be against our soliders!!!! it’s not an easy job…TRUST ME! and i bet you anything the soldiers over there keeping our homes safe didn’t go to war because they like bush! so show some damn respect! & kudos to Jason if your in Qatar around Aug and after…see ya there!!! :)
June 16th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Please I would like to know if the cute guy with the beautiful girl in the photos got married ? Are they still alive ? Please let me know just to feel better…