DIYALA, Iraq - One thing that continuously catches peoples' eyes on Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Iraq, is the intricately detailed wooden signs in front of buildings throughout the base. These works-of-art are created by two Soldiers from Task Force Frontline, 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Sgt. Douglas Lambe, of University Place, Wash., the woodshop non-commissioned officer in charge, and Spc. Charles Wells, from Tacoma, Wash., a wood worker, from Company B, 296th BSB, operate the woodshop here.

Their workplace is in a battered shed constructed by their predecessors. Inside there is a square work table that takes up most of the space. The walls are lined with various power tools with lumber spread out and sorted below them. The sounds of saws and power drills are constant, filling the air with sawdust and the aroma of freshly cut pine. 

Lambe didn't plan on being a carpenter on this deployment

"I thought I was going to be doing (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) repair, because that's what I do," said the woodshop NCOIC. 

Before joining the Army, Lambe had worked as a construction worker. This experience led him to his current position of running the wood shop on FOB Warhorse.

"On every tour I've been on, there's always been a place to build things," said Lambe while talking about how his woodshop came to be.

"I was asked to assess the woodshop left behind, said Lambe. "My name got brought up to the sergeant major because of my construction experience. 

"I built them [296th BSB command group] a large command table and they loved it," said Sgt. Lambe. "I've been here building ever since."

To help him with the woodshop, Lambe enlisted the help of Spc. Wells.

"I needed someone that could grow, and he has grown," said Lambe of the light-wheeled vehicle mechanic's progress as a carpenter. "He came in here not knowing how to build much of anything. Now, he can build furniture, and he is really honing his skills on these tools, and learning how to use them to make things pretty."

These men work on projects for various people on the FOB. Currently, Lambe is working on book shelves for the FOB chapel, complete with professional quality signs used for labeling different religious material that will be on the shelves for distribution.

The carpenters made a bookshelf from a pile of lumber in about an hour by flawlessly cutting the wood and putting the correct notches to hold it together.

With all that they build, their pride is in the work they do with their signs, a skill that they acquired and honed during this tour.

"I wish I was a better artist," said Lambe about his command impressing signs. 

An artist is always his own hardest critic.

With their woodshop duty on FOB Warhorse just past the halfway point in Iraq, these men plan on continuing their work and perfecting their skills. Lambe intends to open his own shop after he gets out of the Army.

"This is a skill I'll definitely be able to make money off of," said Lambe.