Working late on Christmas Eve

There was an equipment failure out at Cropper last night so it was quite a late Christmas Eve. Pretty intense over there. I don't think they have any real roads either, just mud between buildings and tents. I saw one blacked-out prisoner bus slide 20 feet through the mud before the frantic driver managed to get it under control. You'd be surprised at all of the US traffic on the roads after dark. Log convoys, mostly - huge flatbeds and tractor trailers covered in mud, grinding through the Christmas night. Needless to say, it's been an exhausting couple of days.

People said things would slow down over the holidays, but I haven't seen it. We heard some shooting in the distance, and there was talk about an incident earlier in the day, but no real action. Just another night in Iraq.