Just after New Year 2005/2006, Milczanowski and his unit moved to Al-Kut to take over the base left by the Ukrainians. The base was poorly protected, surrounded only by fences, compared to Dianiyah, which was surrounded by T-walls (also known as Bremer walls, steel-reinforced concrete blast walls). There was just one battalion (and a small staff of the brigade) to organize all protection in the towers, patrols inside and outside the base, and convoys. The Ukrainians who had left the base had a whole brigade for the same purpose. 1: Main building of the Polish Brigade and battalion 2-5: View of the city of Al-Kut from the roof of the main building 6: One of the guard towers located on the bunker 7-8: Offices 9: View from the OP Tower 11 on the Tigris River 10: OP Tower 11, closest to the river and bush on the other side; anyone could come very close without being observed, and one of the Latvian soldiers was wounded there 11: The fence inside the base, between the zones of different levels of protection 12: Road inside the base along the perimeter during the rainy season 13-19: View of the Tigris River and the housing on the other side of the river 20-27: Buildings around the airport inside the base 28: Gate No. 1, very narrow place to force the incoming cars to maximally slow down 29-34: The Ukrainian soldiers who the base was taken over from never finished clearing it of mines, so during the winter especially there was the threat of mine explosions 35-38: Iraqi soldiers training inside the base 39-43: Very weak protection of the base was the primary concern of the Polish troops; building new protection measures had to be conducted at the same time that all patrols, convoys, and observation duties were carried out 44-45: Living conditions were good but only for a temporary stay; having no place to store personal belongings made the rooms messy 46: On duty with El Salvadorian officer