Colin's Adventure in Iraq

Leave
In preparation for leave, everyone has to pack up all of their stuff just in case we change lodgings during our absence. We get 15 days in the States, which doesn’t start until the day after one arrives at one’s final destination. There were the usual paperwork problems. We waited for an hour to get those straightened out. Our first stop was the airport complex, where we would spend the night. One Soldier, however, still had didn’t have all of his tickets punched and was actually picked up by his unit and returned to his base. I can’t imagine what that felt like: being at the airport, on the way home and then being yanked back.

Our overnight stop at Baghdad International Airport was like a rest station on a stage coach line in the American West. Our host lives alone, waiting to help Soldiers come and go; we even brought supplies to his out-of-the-way location. Our host played “The Blue Collar Comedy Tour” DVD and had an accent to go with it. He took us to supper and then we bedded down in the bunkhouse for the night. Some Soldiers weren’t as fortunate as us: their units dropped them off at the airport proper and they spent the night on the gravel parking lot. About 60 of us flew in a C-130 to Kuwait. Our command required us to take our body armor with us - in case the plane was hit by ground fire during take off and landing in Baghdad - but very few of us wore it.

Once in Kuwait, we got some briefings on our conduct while on leave. There was to be no drinking alcohol in uniform. We spent the night in Kuwait and then were on “lockdown” once we had our belongings searched for contraband. Cuban cigars are a favorite of smokers and can be purchased at US military concessionaires, but of course they are not allowed to be imported. One Soldier, who had bought a box, threw them to wanting hands throughout the auditorium where we received our briefing.

We then boarded a World Airways flight which took us to Germany and then on to Atlanta. From there, I flew to BWI, where Mary and the boys picked me up at 11:30 AM. The whole process took 72 hours – not bad by Army standards.

The return trip was hard for me. It started with saying goodbye to my family, which was much more difficult this time. In March, we didn’t know what it would be like, and now we knew too well. In March, we had spent just a day with our families before all getting on the plane together; this time, I had spent two weeks with my family and got on the plane alone. When we arrived in Kuwait, we received a short briefing by a chaplain who told us that it was normal to feel really down at this point in our journey. Him saying it helped a little, but not much.

Usually, on the trip back, Soldiers spend the night in the Baghdad airport bunkhouse, but I got squeezed on a convoy going back to our FOB that day. I didn’t like it at the time – I was looking forward to one last good meal and a day to get over jet lag. It’s a good thing I did get back early, though. I was much less lonely back at our FOB and everyone was happy to see me. Harold was the one person who was possibly more depressed than I was. He had gotten back from leave three days before me and couldn’t even smile when we met. I asked if he was glad he went on leave and he said, “No.”

Harold is a senior at a state university. He has a double major: history and elementary education. He’s also an RA back at the dorms and has become quite an entrepreneur while there. When we first got in country, we discussed the new Army policy our paying Soldiers a bonus of $1000 a month for each month they stayed over one year. He said he’d volunteer for another year to get the bonus. He even thought of doing a paper on his experience here, perhaps working with Iraqi children. The short drive from Baghdad International Airport to our new base quickly changed his mind. Harold had never been outside the US before, let alone a third world country. He was overwhelmed to see a kid selling gasoline on the side of the road during the school day. When I offered him a little toothbrush to give to an Iraqi child, he declined, saying the recipient would probably make a shank out of it and stab him.

Harold and others have suffered a bit of culture shock. I’ve traveled a bit, which I think lessened the impact. I’ve been to Mexico where I saw poverty and lots of kids selling things. The shopping district, with the colorful signs in foreign characters, were familiar from our recent visit to China, as were the toilets which are flush with the floor. The nicer houses are much like those I saw in Caracas, Venezuela; there are no wood frame buildings – everything is made of concrete, stone, and steel.

The thing that stands out the most to me is Islam, and I’m reminded of it several times a day when prayers take place. In the US, a public building with a tower full of speakers next to it might make you think “fire station”. Here, it’s "mosque".

Comments on the Interview
First to clarify and update some things:
1. The combined birthdays are Clayton’s and Quinn’s in February. I should be home for mine, which by the way is May 30th.
2. I don’t always sit onto top of the HMMWV “holding the gun”. Actually, upon my return, my truck started a weekly driver/gunner rotation, one week I’ll be on the gun and the next driving. Before I joined it, this truck used to rotate through the truck commander position too, but the squad leader needed one designated truck commander. By mixing it up a bit, we don’t get as bored, and more importantly, as complacent.
3. I should be home, God willing, in early – not late – Spring.

An elder at church works for CBS 3 and thought this would make a good story. Mary and I thought it would be good to give some exposure to the sacrifice families are making while their Soldiers are deployed. The crew was very nice and very professional. We sat at our kitchen table for the interview and the questions seemed to roll right off of Alycia, who worked without notes. At the end of the interview, the cameraman, Mike, said, “This is going to sound cheesy, but we’d like you all to kiss.” We both were hesitant, one because it wouldn’t be spontaneous, two because we also thought it was cheesy. Alycia said they’d turn their heads. Mary asked later how we were to think we weren’t being watched when thousands of people would see the video. I joked that it was starting to fell like a Connie Chung interview. Reluctantly, we did it, and it doesn’t look as forced as it was.

I simulated packing my bags in the bay window, again hesitating, but the rest of the footage was just us running around playing. Clayton really asked to wear his “Who’s Your Baghdaddy?” tee shirt I bought him. The photo at the end of the segment was a surprise. Mike saw “take family photo” on the list of things to do together while I was home, so he offered to take one for us. We guessed Alycia had some photography experience, since Mike asked her to take the picture, but maybe he thought he could make it part of the segment. It was neat that it got in there. Since it was a digital camera, they had to add some auto wind sound effects.

KP
I had KP for the first time since I’ve been in the PA Guard. At all FOBs before this one, the dining facility (DFAC) were run by contractors. This one is operated by the Army. If you read the Times Leader articles by Lane Filler, you know that the DFAC throws out a lot of food. That because we have x people living on our FOB and we get food for x people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner no matter how few people show up.

My duties were simple: stock the refrigerators with sodas, keep the trash can empty, serve food, and throw out left over food. The DFAC also employs several Iraqis who are tasked with the same jobs as the KPs. I think the Iraqis thought I, or whoever else had KP were threatening their jobs by being there. They always were a step ahead or right behind me. I tried to be sensitive to this, but I wanted to do something. So, I smiled a lot and took my time and made some laps around the dining room. It wasn’t a bad day for KP. Having that greasy film on my skin and clothes at the end of the dinner provided more impetus to take a shower than the hottest and dustiest days on missions.