Easter at Camp Striker

I woke up late in the morning and it was Easter. Jack said he wanted to interview the chaplain at that chapel about being a chaplain in a war. We are told to come back later which we do. So Jack gets a pretty good interview and had just finished putting away his tape recorder. This chaplain, a lieutenant colonel in the regular Army, precedes to pick up a photograph of he and his wife and his two young twins. He precedes to tell us he just returned from emergency leave because one of the twins had died (she was only 20 months old). We are both taken back with this news. We leave the chapel enroute to the dining facility for Easter dinner. We discuss this chain of events during the dinner that was nothing more than all of the week;s meals put together in one. The dressing was the worst I’ve ever tasted. Anyway, Jack is going back and forth if he should go back and see if the chaplain would talk more about his family. He finally decides to return to the chapel and talk to the chaplain to see if he would be OK if he included his daughter’s death in his story. When we arrive at the chapel, we are told to come back later. So we decide to go to the MWR internet cafe. At a small shack a few feet from the cafe, two soldiers who are checking IDs tell us the internet and phone lines are blacked out because of the death of three soldiers. Marines always do this but this is the first time I’ve known the Army to do this. This prevents the soldiers’ families from learning about their deaths before they are appropriately notified by the respective services. I was suppose to call my wife for Easter later that day too so I was a little worried that she would be concerned. So we returned to the chapel and the chaplain agreed. What a sad story. We also noticed that he had a large Kabar knife on his body armor. Jack asked him about this. He said the knife’s purpose was to cut his seat belt in his Humvee. Later we returned to the dining facility for Easter dinner. A few hours later, Jack received some bad news from his family too. In other words, he didn’t sleep much that night with his wife calling him several times.

7 April CPIC arrival

We arrive at the Rhino drop off area a few hours before sunrise. I tell one of the security staff for the Rhino convoy that I’m with Public Affairs and would like to take a photograph of one of the Rhinos. He says go ahead, just don’t let the other riders see me take the photo. So I shoot from my hip with a 28-70 millimeter zoom lens. Of course looking at the monitor on the back of my Nikon D70S to make sure I have the shot.  A few minutes later, the CPIC media escort  team drives us to CPIC where we learn that there is no open cots or beds (there are six bunk beds in the room named the media pen). Jack decides to stay up and e-mail. I lay down on a sagging cot and catch a few hours of sleep despite a peculiar odor in the room. There were at least 12 media types sleeping in this small room, some on the floor. The rest of the day is spent catching up on e-mails and sleep. We decide to ride the Rhino back to Camp Striker later that night. Jack didn’t tell me this until we reached Striker early the morning of the next day that he heard a Rhino was attacked earlier in the day. I noticed that the driver was going faster than the night before. We arrive at Striker around 1:30 a.m.

6 April Flight to Baghdad International Airport

We depart Ali Al Salem on another C-130 a few hours after dawn enroute to BIAP. The pilots make their patented corkscrew landing. It is hard to describe but it feels like someone is pressing on your shoulders and then lifting you up off your seat. I have no problem with it but some people have. After landing at the airport, I immediately check to see if we can get a space available flight aboard a Black Hawk helicopter to the Combined Press Information Center in the International Zone. It is here that Rice needs to get his media credentials. I learn there are no flights so we have to go to plan B. Taking a shuttle bus to Camp Striker a few minutes away and waiting for a trip to CPIC on the Rhino Runner. This vehicle is nothing more than an older style Winnebago motor home with bullet proof glass and it is up armored. So we wait until early in the morning to board the Rhino. Around 5 p.m. we are in a tent and hear a 21-rifle salute. There is a small chapel on this base and we both know that this was for a memorial ceremony. Once we board the Rhino later, it doesn’t even take an hour to reach the IZ. One thing that I’ve noticed after riding these is there is no suspension. And some of the speed bumps are about a foot high. It can be a rough ride despite sitting in padded bus-like seats. 

5 April Trip to Ali Al Salem

I left Camp Adder in the morning aboard a Japanese C-130 Transport Plane (this will be my second time flying on one of these Japanese airplanes). My mission is to meet Jack Rice of WCCO Radio at Ali Al Salem. About an hour later, we land at Ali Al Salem. Another soldier and I decide to see if the Japanese crewmen will trade their uniform patches for our unit or U.S. flag patches. I end up trading my Red Bull patch for a Japanese flag that says Japan under it. I even take a picture of this Japanese soldier with the Red Bull patch on the left shoulder of his flightsuit. Several minutes later, I find Rice in a transient tent. He tells me that we will be leaving for Baghdad International Airport early the next morning.  

17 Mar 07 1st night Sherpa flight

I depart Camp Al Asad on a Sherpa C-23 plane or the “Flying Boxcar” as it is called. This isn’t my first flight aboard one of these old planes but it will be my first one at night. I notice right away the windows are covered with cloth as I sit down. It is a pretty uneventful flight until the flares are released. A tall civilian contractor kind of freaked out when this happened because when the flares hit the bottom of the plane it made a sound like gunfire (plus the sky was lit up by the flares). After several hours waiting for a C-130 Transport Plane at LSA Anaconda, I flew back to my base, Camp Adder, the next day.

15 Mar 07 The final leg

We leave before daybreak. I am able to sit in the truck commander’s seat though so I am able to see the countryside more. It reminds me of the Badlands in South Dakota and one or two formations almost look like Chimney Rock in Nebraska. This is one of the smoothest trips I’ve been on. We arrive at our final destination in almost record time with no truck breakdowns or roadside bomb detonations or possible roadside bombs. There was a noteworthy thing though. We watched a boy that couldn’t have been 5 years old run about 200 meters from his house to meet us on the Main Supply Route. I mean this boy was running very fast for his age. The gunner in the vehicle threw him some candy.

14 Mar 07 First leg of a several-hour trip

I learn that I will ride back with the same vehicle crew that I rode with in January to this same location and back. So I would be riding in the VIP seat of the Armored Security Vehicle. A few hours later, we arrive at our first overnight stop, CKV. I’m pretty tired so I crash until it is dinner time. After dinner, everybody crashes pretty early. It is going to be an early morning for our ride home. 

14 MAR 07 Truck inspections

The day starts a little after daybreak for this group of Iowa Army National Guardsmen. They do a few varieties of push ups and then they’re off to the staging yard. As I reach this yard, it is a sunny day but the gusty winds make it feel like a day on a Brainerd, Minn., lake in the fall with the perfect walleye chop. Of course this FOB received its name from British soldiers stationed there. We pronounce it Tre bill but they pronounced it trouble because it was so cold in the winter months. The soldiers are divided into teams of two and each team is responsible for a row of trucks and trailers numbering about seven. Each team has an inspection checklist that includes working headlights, tail lights, brakes and wipers. The soldiers also check for major fluid leaks. Not even an hour has passed before we take a break by a small bonfire in the middle of the yard. The drivers are ordered in one area while a bomb-sniffing and drug-sniffing dog searches each truck. After these searches, the soldiers go back to work. I decide to climb up one of the tanker’s ladders to get a high angle view. Imagine trying to climb one of these ladders on the side of the tanker with an extra 60 pounds of weight (the top-heavy body armor vest with mandated gear like several hundred rounds of ammunition for my M-4 rifle). I unfortunately picked a ladder that didn’t go all way to the top of the tanker. So I had do some acrobatic moves to reach the top. Needless to say it was a tedioius process. But I got a great photo (which couldn’t be published because of Operational Security concerns). Several minutes later, the team’s task was over as a company from their battalion arrived to escort these trucks to a large base in the interior of Iraq.

Life at FOB Trebil 12 Mar 07

We drive a little ways until we are within the FOB. You can tell this because on one side we are surrounded by sand and metal wire barriers called Hesco barriers. As I walk into the FOB, I notice a building that resembles something from a palace in Baghadad, Swa Huts and some low tents. We walk inside a building where there are phones on one side of the entrance and several laptops on the other side. This is the soldiers’ MWR building complete with a small kitchen, a soda cooler, one shower and one sink, TV room and partitioned off living areas (with mattresses not cots).

The Iowa Soldiers share this building, once a former welcome center, with an active duty Army Movement Control Team based at Fort Hood, Texas. I also learn that the Marines stationed here serve hot chow twice daily, breakfast and dinner. The first dinner isn’t bad either. Chicken breast, rice, corn on the cob and store-boughten carrot cake. One of the Soldiers also made a homemade pizza that was pretty good. Another soldier made chocolate chip cookies that were really good. He said he enjoys cooking so he fits in real well. Later, I’m told that we will start the next day at 7 a.m.

Trip to FOB Trebil 12 Mar 07

Now, CKV is known for having good food at its small dining facility. For breakfast, this came true with the cinnamon rolls. They were almost as good as Cinnabons. We left this base several hours after sunrise enroute to the tiny forward operating base Trebil near the Jordan border. It is here that I will stay for a day to cover the story of about 10 of the battalion soldiers stationed here. They inspect the trucks for road worthiness before they head back to Al Asad. A few hours later, we arrive at the FOB. I grab my gear from the Humvee’s trunk, hop in a Gator with a soldier stationed at the FOB and am on my way to the FOB.