Friday, September 28, 2007

Journey to Iraq

Let the journey begin. After months of training working up to this point we are finally shipping out. After getting our rifles and other sensitive equipment items out of the armory we loaded buses for Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina where we loaded a North American Airlines charter jet. We flew to JFK NY for a 3 hr layover for refuel and crew change and then flew to Shannon Ireland for a 45 minute tarmac refuel stop to get us to Leichsteig Germany for another 2 hr layover and crew change and finally to Kuwait.

Upon arrival in Kuwait we rode a bus for an hour to Camp Virginia where we were each given 60 rds of live ammunition and told to carry it with our rifle at all times. This one act, above all else, helped really make it feel real for me. I was now in a combat zone. After a night’s stay in air conditioned tents we flew on a military transport jet (C17) in the tiniest seats ever (made tinier by our wearing flak jackets and Kevlar helmets) to Al Taqquadam (AKA "T-Q") Air Base in western Iraq (Al Anbar province) only 10 miles from Al Fallujah and camp Fallujah. After a couple nights we flew once again (this time on helos) to camp Fallujah.

Despite it only being 10 miles away, the road from T-Q is well worn (by worn I mean nearly blown to hell by repetitive IED attacks) and fraught with danger. Finally, under the cover of darkness, by early morning Sunday September 30, our 30 minute helo ride got us to our final destination and forward operating base for our tour here in Iraq—Camp Fallujah!