GREETINGS FROM IRAQ:
This is an e-mail from a young and brave female friend of ours. Just thought I'd share it:
A Salama Lakum! (Peace be with you - an Arabic greeting)
My, what an adventure it's been and I've only been in the country of Iraq for one day! We were so happy to leave Kuwait because at Camp Virginia, where we were staying was getting way too crowded. The PX line was a 3 1/2 hr. wait and the phone line was a 2 hr. wait. They did have a deli there that made the best freshly blended strawberry, kiwi and banana smoothies and pretty good Chinese food that I will miss standing in line for. When I think of Kuwait I will always remember our trip to the shooting range for close quarter combat training. It was sooooooo chaotic! We arrived by bus at night and had to compete with other units for a tent to sleep in. We had a medium sized tent and crammed about 60 soldiers in it. Wherever we could find a space we'd put our sleeping bag down on the sand and that was our space for the night; it was head to toe sleeping positions. It was crazy but kind of fun too. Some soldiers just slept outside under the stars, but in the desert it gets really cold at night. I so want to ride a camel and they were everywhere in Kuwait, like stray cattle. The image of a HMMWV driving behind a camel to chase it off of the shooting range always brings a smile to my face. We learned a lot that day. We did close quarter combat training at Ft. Hood too but the course we took in Kuwait was a little different. They taught us to shoot while running. It reminded me of police training.
Our last night at Camp Virginia in Kuwait we had to wake up at 1AM and have our gear loaded by 2AM onto the buses. We were taken to an Air Force base where I had to wait 12 hrs. for my flight. Since my last name began with a "W" I was on the last flight out. Our flight was an hour and a half long and we flew in on a C-130 military cargo plane. The flight wasn't too bad until we approached Baghdad and they turned out all the lights and the plane made a sudden nose dive as it prepared to land on the runway in the dark. It almost felt like I was on a roller coaster ride. This is the new landing procedure for planes landing in Baghdad ever since the DHL plane was shot at a couple of months ago.
I was told that Baghdad had a distinctive smell and as I walked off the back end of the plane it hit me. It's kind of hard to describe but it smells like burning trash and then some. The longer I stay here I'm sure I'll never forget the smell.
We arrived to Camp Victory in the Green Zone of Baghdad at midnight and during one part of the convoy from the airport we had to load a magazine in our weapons and point our weapons out of the 5 ton truck we were riding in the back of. We could not shoot until fired upon. It was a scary feeling riding in the back of a truck at night and not being able to see out or know whether or not we'd be shot at or if we'd drive over an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) that was just placed there. They told us that right before our plane landed there were mortar rounds fired.
I am team leader of a 4 man THT team (Tactical Human Intelligence Team). We are a part of the 502nd MI (Military Intelligence) Bn (Battalion) at Camp Victory in Baghdad but we are being sent all over Iraq to assist other units. Some of the teams are being attached to MP's unit, others are being sent to other cities to work with the Polish, Spaniards, or Ukranians, but the majority of the teams are either General Support (GS) or Direct Support (DS) to other units. My team was picked to do Direct Support to 1st Cavalry in one part of Baghdad. I have a SGT from CA Guard, a SGT from MA Guard and then a SPC from my unit back home in LA on my team. My team is the only DS team with an Arabic linguist (SPC Saleh) so that worked in our favor. We are now attached to the 501st MI Bn until 1CAV takes over and then we'll be attached to them. We met up with two security teams from the 501st MI who they loaded our gear and us into two HMMWV's and took us to our new home. I was nervous about the convoy back to our new base camp because I was told that we'd be IED dodging. It's an Arabic holiday celebration this whole week so the people are in the streets going crazy. They're cutting their heads and rubbing the blood on the walls of mosques to similate what happened years ago to one of their leaders. We were given a convoy brief to decide what roads to take and avoid. As soon as we drove off the base we loaded a magazine into our weapons, chambered a round and kept our eyes wide open. I thought that they couldn't drive in New Orleans! WOW! We had two HMMWV's going 70 mph in the city, narrowly missing hitting other vehicles. Our security escorts have been in Baghdad for a year now and get to go home in a couple of months. They've also had the misfortune of driving over an IED but luckily, no one was hurt. Military vehicles drive extremely fast to avoid being targets. We drove under 3 overpasses and each time we came out on the other side of the overpass our driver would swerve to the far lane (left-right). The unit that we're now a part of lost a soldier today to an IED in a 5 vehicle convoy that drove under an overpass and the IED was hanging on the other side of the overpass and hit one of their vehicles. The Iraqi driving population has learned to pull to the side of the road if a military vehicle drives up behind them or to stop at all intersections to let the military vehicles pass through. A military vehicle knocking off a side view mirror or side swiping a car is a common occurrence over here and we don't stop when it happens. I had my eyes closed most of the ride, especially when we came across a 4 way intersection and started driving through it. I saw the bus coming at us and when it hit our HMMWV I was thrown forward into the back of the passenger seat in front of me. My shins on both legs are badly bruised and sore and my left knee is swollen but nothing serious; I won't be showing leg or shaving anytime soon. There is no doubt in my mind that if SSG Patchell, the driver, hadn't of turned the wheel into the bus then he and SGT Hopkins would've sustained serious injuries because the bus would've t-boned the side of the HMMWV rather than just hit the left front corner. We joked that that's what it must feel like to drive over an IED but our security escorts said that there wasn't flying shrapnel coming at us. We all got out of the two HMMWV's and pulled a 360 degree perimeter security around the area until the wrecker truck arrived. We were sitting targets and not in the greatest neighborhood. Some of our guys had to direct traffic and then people began to gather around which made me a little nervous. I experienced the same reaction in Afghanistan, the local population seem fascinated by female soldiers. I stood there pulling security and was stared at like a museum exhibit. The children especially, were very curious and asked me a lot of questions. I stood next to the HMMWV that had a 50 caliber machine gun mounted on top of it. I didn't like the idea that I only had a 9mm pistol while the majority of us carried M-16 rifles. I was determined to acquire a rifle once I got in country. I spoke with my new 1SG about my concerns and he told me that actually, the Iraqi people fear hand guns worse than rifles or even cruise serve weapons when in a crowd because they used to get beaten with pistols and sticks. I love the idea of having a gun truck with a 50 caliber machine gun assigned to my team. We finally made it to our new base camp and OH MY GOSH! I can't even begin to describe where we live so I was finally able to get a picture of it which I will send in a separate email to ya'll. I live beneath a monument called the Martyrs' Monument. We live in an underground city with all the amenities.
Welcome to Iraq.................... |
