Monday, March 29, 2004
Arrival In Baghdad
This is a diary of my experiences as executive officer of Headquarters Company, 1-124th Infantry Regiment, during and after the war to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein. It may also be considered a love letter to my children, who do not yet exist, and to the next generation. May the world be a safer and better place for the sacrifices we make here today.
10 May 2003, Baghdad International Airport.
We arrived at Baghdad International Airport about 1700 hours local time yesterday. I was on the second flight of HHC personnel. We left Prince Hasan Air Base, Jordan, about 2000 hours the night before, on the 8th of May--coincidentally, the 11th anniversary of my commissioning as an officer out of ROTC at the University of Southern California.
We made one brief fuel stop at another (unknown) airfield, then flew to an airfield in the United Arab Emirates. Afternoon temperatures reached 130 degrees F in the shade, according to some USAF personnel stationed there. And it's only May. Lovely.
After about a 6 hour layover, we packed into another C-130 and made the trip to Baghdad.
No one was prepared to recieve us. After repeated attempts to reach the 3rd Armored Cavalry Headquarters in Ar Ramadi, we "borrowed" an airport trolley and shuttled everyone to the other side of the airport, to concourse D, of the main terminal.
Impressions: There is no plumbing at all, and auxiliary power only. Sanitary conditions are very poor. Flies are legion out front: prior units had urinated and defacated all over the parking lot out front--not that they had much choice.
Spirits are good in the unit. Vehicles are still back in Jordan, along with our mechanics and our support platoon. Our Operational Readiness rating right now is about 40%, by the "dash-10" [vehicle maintenance manual] standards. Spare parts have been a severe problem. CL II [general supply] support has been nonexistent.
Some notes on the Airport itself: prior units have not taken good care of the airport. They left trash and piss bottles lying all over the ground throughout the airport. Our area is still ok, and we will keep it that way. Our troops and troops of B co, 1-124th Infantry, are sleeping in the baggage claim area of the terminal.
It looks as if no one has flown out of here in years, though there is no sign of this terminal having ever been used.
There's a cool mural on the wall in the baggage area, though--apparently Gilgamesh, or some other mythic figure, killing a panther.
Offices throughout the airport have been ransacked.
Apparently, someone stole liquor from the Duty Free shop upstairs (though I know it wasn't anyone from our unit.) Dust covers all the floors. It may never have been mopped. All the trees are dead. Landscaping around the airport has been started, but never completed.
A bombed out 727 shell still lies on the runway.
A professionally dressed Iraqi woman came by who was apparently part of the Airport Administration, who claimed that everything had been working fine until the US showed up.
That is clearly false. This terminal has not functioned in years.
One Sergeant Major May, from a Public Affairs Unit permanently assigned to the Airport, warned us to be careful moving out of here. Iraqis had been taking potshots at convoiys, including RPG ambushes, and even throwing landmines out into the road in front of US convoys.
We have no maps yet of anywhere in the country.
Waiting for transportation to the north, to our next mission.
10 May 2003, Baghdad International Airport.
We arrived at Baghdad International Airport about 1700 hours local time yesterday. I was on the second flight of HHC personnel. We left Prince Hasan Air Base, Jordan, about 2000 hours the night before, on the 8th of May--coincidentally, the 11th anniversary of my commissioning as an officer out of ROTC at the University of Southern California.
We made one brief fuel stop at another (unknown) airfield, then flew to an airfield in the United Arab Emirates. Afternoon temperatures reached 130 degrees F in the shade, according to some USAF personnel stationed there. And it's only May. Lovely.
After about a 6 hour layover, we packed into another C-130 and made the trip to Baghdad.
No one was prepared to recieve us. After repeated attempts to reach the 3rd Armored Cavalry Headquarters in Ar Ramadi, we "borrowed" an airport trolley and shuttled everyone to the other side of the airport, to concourse D, of the main terminal.
Impressions: There is no plumbing at all, and auxiliary power only. Sanitary conditions are very poor. Flies are legion out front: prior units had urinated and defacated all over the parking lot out front--not that they had much choice.
Spirits are good in the unit. Vehicles are still back in Jordan, along with our mechanics and our support platoon. Our Operational Readiness rating right now is about 40%, by the "dash-10" [vehicle maintenance manual] standards. Spare parts have been a severe problem. CL II [general supply] support has been nonexistent.
Some notes on the Airport itself: prior units have not taken good care of the airport. They left trash and piss bottles lying all over the ground throughout the airport. Our area is still ok, and we will keep it that way. Our troops and troops of B co, 1-124th Infantry, are sleeping in the baggage claim area of the terminal.
It looks as if no one has flown out of here in years, though there is no sign of this terminal having ever been used.
There's a cool mural on the wall in the baggage area, though--apparently Gilgamesh, or some other mythic figure, killing a panther.
Offices throughout the airport have been ransacked.
Apparently, someone stole liquor from the Duty Free shop upstairs (though I know it wasn't anyone from our unit.) Dust covers all the floors. It may never have been mopped. All the trees are dead. Landscaping around the airport has been started, but never completed.
A bombed out 727 shell still lies on the runway.
A professionally dressed Iraqi woman came by who was apparently part of the Airport Administration, who claimed that everything had been working fine until the US showed up.
That is clearly false. This terminal has not functioned in years.
One Sergeant Major May, from a Public Affairs Unit permanently assigned to the Airport, warned us to be careful moving out of here. Iraqis had been taking potshots at convoiys, including RPG ambushes, and even throwing landmines out into the road in front of US convoys.
We have no maps yet of anywhere in the country.
Waiting for transportation to the north, to our next mission.
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