A long day of waiting. I thought that we'd be flying out early in the morning. Instead, we had so much time that my roommate left his entire packing until this morning. We staged our bags for loading, got final signoff, turned in our rooms, and then were ready to go at about noon. The loading of bags and people onto the buses was to put it mildly, a colossal goatscrew, with a free for all as 400 people simultaneously tried to load bags on and get the hell out of Dodge with 4 or 5 large duffel bags. Now I think I know what it is like to be in a refugee camp.
After all that rush, we sat on the bus for a half hour before moving to Freedom Hall, a final staging area from where the flights depart. The schedule was an unknown target, which is typical and necessary to maintain operational security (see, Ken, I do use words besides "tactical"). Despite this, I'm surprised that they let everyone use their cell phones up to the very last minute. I took advantage of the time to do some last minute financial stuff that I won't be able to take care of from downrange.
(Day 13)
We just arrived in Kuwait after a 24 hour trip, starting from when we bussed out of CRC. Guys who have done this trip before said it wasn't all that bad time-wise.
After about 4 hrs of waiting and (sort of lame) farewell speeches at the staging point, we loaded a charter plane and started on our first leg. We stopped in Ireland to refuel and then continued on to Kuwait. By the time we saw the lights of Kuwait City, I had finished reading through 6 reports on southern Iraq and a case study of 30 British soldiers who responded to an ambush in Basrah in 2004 by fixing bayonets and charging the enemy. Although this was the first time in 22 years this had been done (not since Battle of the Falklands), the tactic took the enemy completely by surprise and resulted in 35 insurgents dead with only 3 British soldiers wounded. Takeaway was not that we should start carrying bayonets, but that doing the unexpected often yields good results against an unconventional foe.
I also watched Slumdog Millionaire. I had been holding off because I had heard how great it was, but honestly, it was a little bit of a letdown after all the hype. Good, but not magical and didn't leave me with any lasting impression, the way a Mystic River or Million Dollar Baby did. I loved 28 Days Later, another Danny Boyle movie, so was hoping this would be as good. Maybe if you've never watched a Bollywood movie, it would be really special.
Anyhow, arrived at Kuwait Intl Airport, loaded buses, swapped around, and then drove to another camp about an hour away. There, we got a ridiculous brief which was unintelligible because the briefer had a really thick twang and my Southern sucks, and the two TV screens didn't help because the PPT slides were loaded with text. All we really needed to know was when the bags were coming, where to rack out, and when the next hit time would be.
The bags did show up and we formed a human chain to offload them. Some confusion about bus times for the ride out to Camp B, so a buddy and I just got a spot in the transient tents for a few hours and then some breakfast since it was dawn by then. That was the right move -- the lesson almost always in the Army (heck, probably all institutions) is that moving as a single individual will always be faster than as a group.
Predawn breakfast was kind of surreal. The DFAC is huge and puts most other chow halls to shame with it's big selection of food, including bizarrely a soup and pizza bar running in the morning. There were a lot of Aussies around. Caught a few hours of much needed rack time in the tent, then got up to make the bus. I walked outside and hit a wall of heat. Temps had risen maybe 30 degrees in 3 hrs, from a comfortable low 70s to over 100. Not only hot but bright, so I put on my shades. It's not even May yet and where I'm going, southern Iraq is supposed to be even hotter. Lordy lordy. The bus to Camp B took about an hour. Again, we traveled in blackout mode, shades drawn and lights out. I took a look out and that's when it really hit me that I was really here. The area around was a vast expanse of featureless and flat desert. Here and there were metal carcasses of what appeared to be cars. Fortunately, we had not gone with the main body 5 hrs earlier. They apparently took that long to offload bags and get the same briefings and signin that took us 20 min. The 10th MTN LNO showed up and although he didn't have a head's up that I was coming, he really did take care of me more than he had to. SSG G slotted me in for training, helped me with my bags, got me billeting, even showed me around the camp. The plan is for me to knock out training and then catch a chopper directly into Basrah. I had an option of taking the bare minimum training -- just the rollover drill, but I figure that if I'm going outside the wire a fair amount, I owe it to the patrol I accompany and myself to be as prepared as possible. It's one of those things that if you don't take care of before you start your job, you'll never get to. My tentmate is a LTC who I had met at CRC, so it's just the two of us. Very plain, cots, no linen, no lockers, but at least there are some hanging lights, and it's sheltered from the elements.
After all that rush, we sat on the bus for a half hour before moving to Freedom Hall, a final staging area from where the flights depart. The schedule was an unknown target, which is typical and necessary to maintain operational security (see, Ken, I do use words besides "tactical"). Despite this, I'm surprised that they let everyone use their cell phones up to the very last minute. I took advantage of the time to do some last minute financial stuff that I won't be able to take care of from downrange.
(Day 13)
We just arrived in Kuwait after a 24 hour trip, starting from when we bussed out of CRC. Guys who have done this trip before said it wasn't all that bad time-wise.
After about 4 hrs of waiting and (sort of lame) farewell speeches at the staging point, we loaded a charter plane and started on our first leg. We stopped in Ireland to refuel and then continued on to Kuwait. By the time we saw the lights of Kuwait City, I had finished reading through 6 reports on southern Iraq and a case study of 30 British soldiers who responded to an ambush in Basrah in 2004 by fixing bayonets and charging the enemy. Although this was the first time in 22 years this had been done (not since Battle of the Falklands), the tactic took the enemy completely by surprise and resulted in 35 insurgents dead with only 3 British soldiers wounded. Takeaway was not that we should start carrying bayonets, but that doing the unexpected often yields good results against an unconventional foe.
I also watched Slumdog Millionaire. I had been holding off because I had heard how great it was, but honestly, it was a little bit of a letdown after all the hype. Good, but not magical and didn't leave me with any lasting impression, the way a Mystic River or Million Dollar Baby did. I loved 28 Days Later, another Danny Boyle movie, so was hoping this would be as good. Maybe if you've never watched a Bollywood movie, it would be really special.
Anyhow, arrived at Kuwait Intl Airport, loaded buses, swapped around, and then drove to another camp about an hour away. There, we got a ridiculous brief which was unintelligible because the briefer had a really thick twang and my Southern sucks, and the two TV screens didn't help because the PPT slides were loaded with text. All we really needed to know was when the bags were coming, where to rack out, and when the next hit time would be.
The bags did show up and we formed a human chain to offload them. Some confusion about bus times for the ride out to Camp B, so a buddy and I just got a spot in the transient tents for a few hours and then some breakfast since it was dawn by then. That was the right move -- the lesson almost always in the Army (heck, probably all institutions) is that moving as a single individual will always be faster than as a group.
Predawn breakfast was kind of surreal. The DFAC is huge and puts most other chow halls to shame with it's big selection of food, including bizarrely a soup and pizza bar running in the morning. There were a lot of Aussies around. Caught a few hours of much needed rack time in the tent, then got up to make the bus. I walked outside and hit a wall of heat. Temps had risen maybe 30 degrees in 3 hrs, from a comfortable low 70s to over 100. Not only hot but bright, so I put on my shades. It's not even May yet and where I'm going, southern Iraq is supposed to be even hotter. Lordy lordy. The bus to Camp B took about an hour. Again, we traveled in blackout mode, shades drawn and lights out. I took a look out and that's when it really hit me that I was really here. The area around was a vast expanse of featureless and flat desert. Here and there were metal carcasses of what appeared to be cars. Fortunately, we had not gone with the main body 5 hrs earlier. They apparently took that long to offload bags and get the same briefings and signin that took us 20 min. The 10th MTN LNO showed up and although he didn't have a head's up that I was coming, he really did take care of me more than he had to. SSG G slotted me in for training, helped me with my bags, got me billeting, even showed me around the camp. The plan is for me to knock out training and then catch a chopper directly into Basrah. I had an option of taking the bare minimum training -- just the rollover drill, but I figure that if I'm going outside the wire a fair amount, I owe it to the patrol I accompany and myself to be as prepared as possible. It's one of those things that if you don't take care of before you start your job, you'll never get to. My tentmate is a LTC who I had met at CRC, so it's just the two of us. Very plain, cots, no linen, no lockers, but at least there are some hanging lights, and it's sheltered from the elements.
No comments:
Post a Comment