For the release of "Population Explosion" we held a contest giving away a FREE CUSTOM SABER created by Robert Iannaccone of Advanced Light Weaponry (www.advanced-light.com) valued at $500! The lucky winner was Frank Wilson out of Texas. We asked him to send us a picture of him holding the prize, but he never sent it, and we moved on and forgot! Turns out there was a very good reason. Check out the pics and read on below to learn more!

Here's Frank to explain:

Skipper,
I hope all is going well with you. I didn't forget about the picture with the saber. Unfortunately I was deployed to Iraq shortly after our Geekscape Podcast. I'm happy to report I'm back in one piece. I took the saber and I've attached a couple pictures I took with it in and around Al Faw Palace in Iraq. Al Faw Palace (also known as the Water Palace) is situated on a former Saddam Hussein resort complex about 5 kilometers from the Green Zone, which is now referred to as the International Zone or IZ. Saddam commissioned its construction to commemorate the Iraqi forces' re-taking of the Al Faw Peninsula during the Iran-Iraq conflict. Since 2004 the Palace has been used as the headquarters for the Multinational Force Iraq (MNFI), along with the Joint Operations Center (JOC), which serves as 'Mission Control' for the Multi-National Corps Iraq (MNC-I) and all operational aspects of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The headquarters building I worked out of was near the Palace so I thought it might make for a good, and once in a lifetime, photo. Needless to say I got some strange looks when I pulled the saber out for the pictures.

Cheers -- Frank

 

The contest was fun, but I never expected anything as cool as this. Turns out the perfect person really did win. My sincere thanks to Frank for getting back to us. It's so rare to see anything come out of Iraq these days that actually creates a smile. These pics sure did that for me. I hope I'm not alone in that sentiment.

For those interested, here are all the links from the contest:

The original contest page is here.

Geekscape was nice enough to allow us to promote the contest here.

We announced the winner live on Geekscape here.

 

Thanks again to everyone involved! Stay tuned for the next contest when we give away this saber's EVIL counterpart!

Skipper Martin