As I walked from the Tallil Air Base or Logistical Support Area Adder dining facility to my trailer earlier this week as the sun and hot wind beat down on me, I reflected on being in Iraq for four months. First you all have heard Soldiers describe this heat as being surrounded by a hair dryer on full power. This is true. Another comparison is like walking in back of a C-130 transport plane that has both engines running. To back up, I’m among the more than 2,600 Minnesota Army National Guard Soldiers of the 5,000 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I’m also a Brainerd, Minn., Dispatch photographer and motorsports writer. I have to admit the first four months have gone fast and I have several stories to tell already. Of course stories are my specialty. I’m the supervisor or noncommissioned officer in charge of the BCT’s public affairs office. We take photographs, write stories and shoot videos in covering this BCT’s deployment for several outlets, including hometown newspapers and television stations and our number one goal of CNN. We arrived at this base late one night on a C-17 transport plane from a base in Kuwait. Our first hint that we were entering a combat zone was when the plane’s interior lights were turned off early in the flight. Only red lights lit up the soldier’s faces. The next hint was the combat landing. Let’s just say you can definitely feel the plane making some evasive maneuvers. The first month saw our BCT learn from the Georgia BCT that it was replacing. Basically, we watched the Georgia soldiers do their job for the first week. On the second week, they watched us. In this time period, I was able to cover a medical assistance mission where BCT Soldiers provided items like shoes, water and clothes to children at a school. The Soldiers also provided medical care to the adults that lived in a village near by. It was here that the clock was turned back 100 years sans the satellite dishes on the mud huts and the children wearing jeans and shirts. I also learned that the children are familiar with digital cameras (especially that little nifty monitor on the back of every one of them). This mission didn’t seem that different from the ones that I covered while I was deployed to Bosnia two years ago except that I was always watching over my shoulder for the unexpected and my M-16 rifle was locked and loaded (a round was in the chamber). Later that month, we visited a school that that was made out of mud and bamboo. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in session. The next month I decided to do a story on a mother spending her Mother’s Day as Humvee gunner on a convoy escort mission (see the Dispatch’s archives for the story on Sgt Schilling). Events that I didn’t put in this story included seeing the countryside through night vision goggles from the back seat of the Humvee and being halted on a main highway in the middle of the night. A possible roadside bomb was observed further up the road. Minutes later, we heard the explosion. I don’t know to this day if it was an actual bomb or the explosive ordnance disposal team blew up the suspicious item with C-4. I still remember the truck commander yelling, “IED” (Improvised Explosive Device). Another mission I had was to do a story for the Mahnomen newspaper on two Soldiers from that area. They were stationed at a Marine Corps base named Camp Al Taqqadum. I flew on a C-130 transport plane from Tallil to the same Kuwait base we flew out of to get to Tallil. This was my first and definitely not last C-130 ride. C-130s are very loud and you sit on a webbed seat that is 20 inches across at the most. Otherwise my first ride was uneventful (of course we weren’t flying into a combat zone). From the Kuwait base, I flew another C-130 to Taqaddum or TQ. I felt at home here because once a Marine always a Marine. And the Marines know how to live. They eat on china plates and use silverware compared to us at Adder who eat with plastic silverware on plastic plates. I also covered a patrol that went out to three small towns near the camp to deliver Iraqi newsletters. This included traveling across the desert that looked like the South Dakota Badlands in the Humvees (to avoid IEDs). The Soldiers stopped at these little shops to deliver the newsletters. I chose the wrong Humvee to be in so I had to walk back several 100 meters to where the shops were. On one of these treks, two Iraqi boys showed me their supper in a small plastic bag. All I know there was something white with feathers in the bag. At this same town, gunfire was heard in the distance so we ditty maued. So to get back to Adder from here, I had to fly on another C-130 to the Kuwait base and then catch another C-130 to Adder. At Kuwait, because of my rank, a sergeant first class, I was assigned to be in charge of all the other Soldiers and civilians flying. This meant keeping accountability of them. When it came for an accountability roll call, one of the civilians came up missing. I checked the latrine, waiting tents and calling center. I thought to myself, I hope nothing happened to him. Come to find out, he was smoking in a distant smoking area. The middle of that month was very exciting. My mission was to prepare how to escort a Fox Sports Net North television crew that would be arriving in Iraq in June for several days. I flew from Tallil to the same Kuwait air base on an Army Sherpa plane. The Sherpa is a unique airplane. Some have called it a flying boxcar. It is not pressurized so my ears popped continuously. We flew at about 5,000 feet. It has huge windows so you can really see the flat countryside. You’re probably guessing by now that I know this base pretty well. You’re right; it has a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and even a McDonald’s. Then I flew from Kuwait to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) on another C-130. From there I flew on a Blackhawk helicopter from BIAP to the heavily fortified International Zone (this is where the reporters would receive their press credentials). From the IZ, I hopped on another Blackhawk to Balad Air Base or Logistical Support Anaconda (this is where the reporters would do all of their interviews and live footage). Instead of flying back to Adder, I rode along on a convoy escort mission. I had to get back to Adder ASAP to photograph and cover a memorial ceremony for a BCT Soldier who was killed in action. We left Anaconda at dusk, escorting several tanker trucks. 40 minutes after we left Anaconda, we stopped when we saw taillights in the middle of the road. It came across the radio that the road was blocked. A little while later, it came across the radio that there was a tank ahead. Sure enough, minutes later a tank came rumbling by us. We figured it was an EOD team looking for IEDs. We stopped at least twice more for possible IEDs. I remember one time stopping near an overpass. Through night vision goggles, I could see three people on top of the bridge. This was 4 a.m. Several days later, I flew down to the Kuwait base to meet the FSN crew. The next day, they filmed several shout outs around the base, including one the flight line. I remember looking in the Chevy Suburban’s mirror and the temperature read 135 degrees. An Air Force public affairs officer said the temperatures on top of the wings have been read at 160 degrees. Just as before, I made it safely to the IZ to get the crew their media credentials. While there, we were able to take photos of the famed Crossed Sabers Memorial Field. This memorial was the Iran/Iraq War memorial. Two days later as we left for our helicopter ride to Anaconda, we heard gunfire in the distance. While at Anaconda, this crew was busy. They did stories on six BCT Soldiers plus they filmed more than 50 shout outs, the ceremonial first pitch and the singing of the National Anthem by two BCT female Soldiers. We did six live interviews with Channel 9 morning news and several Twins pre game shows (most of these were filmed at 4 a.m. Iraq time). The crew’s week culminated in a commercial free Twins game that allowed the six Soldiers to talk to their wives and families. The families who were given free tickets to the Twins game also were able to see them. Instead of commercials, American Forces Network aired footage of the families talking to each other. This was all possible by a portable satellite system (Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System) mounted on the roof. My task was to hook up the satellite modem, click a few windows on a laptop and presto, we were live from Iraq. The crew left early July. Sgt Kent Westberg, my broadcast journalist and I flew back on a C-130 several days later to Adder. But our flight to the Kuwait base was delayed. The reason we might have to transport a detainee who was recently captured and two guards. who was recently captured. So we were told to debark the plane and go wait in an air conditioned bus. Sounded like a good idea to me. Sweat was rolling down my face because it was hot in the plane (the back cargo door was closed and the only air was from the side door). One person stayed on the plane, a Marine sergeant with a large knife strapped on his body armor. He told me seconds after boarding the plane that he was stationed at Falluja and this was his second time in Iraq. He was with the Marines in the invasion in 2003. When I mentioned I read about that invasion in the book “Generation Kill” he said he threw the book away after reading half of it. About a half hour later, the pilot decided to get the heck out of dodge and we left without the detainee. The rest of the month I’ve stayed on Adder where for six straight days, the temperature was above 130 degrees at 3 p.m. daily. This was unofficial because they were read from a thermometer on a post in the sun. Late in the month, I nearly went on a mission to Nasiriyah (remember this is where Jessica Lynch’s convoy was ambushed and she was kidnapped). Our BCT civil affairs team was going to drop off goods for a refuge camp. Minutes before we were scheduled to leave, the trip was cancelled. The team’s commander received a call telling him it wouldn’t be a good idea to go. Later it was learned that there were two IEDs planted on our route.
