Specialist Robert Rodriguez smiles as he mans the gun of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division near the Kuwaiti border as part of the last U.S. military convoy to leave Iraq December 18, 2011. The last convoy of U.S. soldiers pulled out of Iraq on Sunday, ending nearly nine years of war that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and left a country still grappling with political uncertainty. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (IRAQ – Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS)