A Little Piece of Home (Part 2)

SSG Fisher asked me if it was safe to put the flare in the back of the Humvee and get back to the FOB. I advised him against it because the flare contains a small explosive charge that shoots the parachute out and ignites the flare. SSG Fisher decided that we would try to ignite the flare by shooting it with our M4 rifles. We assembled a firing squad and after a few shots the flare burst into a brilliant yellow light that was too bright to look at. As it was burning I turned to SSG Fisher and said, "Aren't you glad we didn't put it in the Humvee?" (Note the mound of dirt on the left hand side of the picture. That is one of Iraq's largest oil pipelines running into Northern Iraq's largest oil refinery.)