CNN PRODUCER NOTE     Air Force electrical systems specialist 1dillon was one of the last U.S. soldiers to leave Iraq, in December 2011, more than eight years after the invasion (he is on the left in the first image). These pictures depict life amongst the soldiers and with local Iraqis in Balad, north of Baghdad, as operations began winding down. "Some locals loved us, some hated us," he said. "Some really hated us, to the point where we got hit with mortars almost everyday." The last few days were particularly unsettling, he said, after mortars and rockets rained down on their camp as it became clear when they were going. "In a weird way, it kind of felt lonely - everything was gone," he said. "[U.S. President Barack] Obama announced it on the news and soon enough, rockets and mortars came hit us in large quantities and for the first time with some precision. We had a couple of casualties unfortunately. A couple of days later our general signed the base back over [to the Iraqis], we took one last look at the ghost town of a base, then took off."
- sarahbrowngb, CNN iReport producer