Desert Training: Time flies when you're having to...wait
5:42 p.m. Thursday, July 17, 2008
The transition to FOB Dallas has been an interesting one. I'm using interesting in a vague way here. There are good things and bad. I feel like we've connected with the soldiers more here. They are all very welcoming and outgoing. Not that the guys in FOB Seattle were not, we were just living with very few of them and didn't really get a feel for the whole scene.
After the Mass casualty drill yesterday we ate lunch, packed up and were shipped to FOB King. We had a chance to meet with Col. Faulkner about our trip so far. Faulkner is with the brigade PAO. We also had enough internet time to send one quick email and check the weather. It has been 75-80 degrees so far. I'm thinking this in an anomaly for this time of year here. With dread I looked at the 10 day forecast as it reeled off consecutive days with the mercury stopping ever so slightly below the century mark. (I have no idea what the weather will be like when you are reading this, it could very well be 100 in Kansas by then and I'll be here whining about it, that's a risk I'm taking right now) But to argue the counterpoint, 100 degrees in the dessert with very limited AC is much different than 100 in Kansas with AC in the car, home, office, favorite eating establishment and what have you. In other words, there are escape routes. Here, not so much.
When we arrived at FOB Dallas, we learned that the paperwork and necessary ID badges are not the same for each FOB here at NTC. (Wow!!! three acronyms in one sentence) We were assigned new press badges to be clipped to our existing NTC badge. That makes a total of three, counting my standard 49 News badge. I either feel official or officially unwanted, I'm not sure which.
To continue our day, we were escorted to chow. The escort is required at FOB Dallas (according to the ID badge) whereas we pretty much met our handler at chow at FOB Seattle. Subtle differences. After a fine meal of stuffed pork chops, which I mistook as chicken breast at first, drawing a raised eyebrow from the servers, we went back to our housing tent.
After an hour or so of downtime, we learned we would be joining a convoy to a remote camp about 30 minutes away from FOB Dallas near the town of Abar Layla. The goal of this mission is to simulate the taking-over of peace-keeping duties and security for this village. (This is similar to some of the exercises we had witnessed earlier) The men and women of Bravo Company will be in this camp for the next week or so, but we will probably be there a few days, although that is not confirmed.
This is where I started to see some of the disorganization of the Army. About 100 soldiers, all of their gear and supplies for the week must be moved this evening. The convoy is supposed to leave at 2100 hrs. As we hop into a humvee at around 2115, word begins circulating that we won't actually be leaving for a few hours. The prospect of me sleeping much tonight becomes as dim as the daylight from a quickly setting sun. I get some shots of the soldiers frantically packing up the last of the cargo before it becomes too dark. My camera is very impractical for shooting in low light conditions. It is about 2200 when I decide to fight the odds and try to find a comfortable sleeping position the humvee that is built more for killing than cradling. I think I may have nodded off for 20 minutes of the three hour wait in the convoy line. When I come to, my leg has fallen into a deeper sleep than the rest of my body. In the cramped conditions, trying to get rid of the pins and needles feeling pulsating from my knee down is almost pointless. Just before 2330, Capt. Padilla, the leader of this squad, joins us in the humvee and says we will be leaving shortly.
Padilla is witty and occasionally funny. By chatting with him, I gain more knowledge of actual life while at war in Iraq. He tells me that many of the convoys he was a part of were delayed up to 12 hours. So this three hour delay is apparently no big deal. He also reveals that part of the delay may be planned. At NTC, the training comes in three phases. The first part is pretty much prep time. In the second phase, the units undergo a variety of smaller tasks, battle, or exercises. These are then reviewed and sometimes repeated. The final phase is the most comprehensive. There are not set exercises, but a week of ongoing operations. This is relevant because at 0001, the time our convoy is scheduled to leave, the third phase begins. Basically there is a lot of chatter about the fact that this convoy has taken new shape and virtually anything is fair game, including convoy attacks. This rests in the back of my sleepy head as we roll out. I shoot a few minutes of video in the dark as the parade of vehicles rolls to Abar Layla. I really sort of hope that something happens so that our uncomfortable wait is not in vain. Unfortunately, or fortunately, nothing does happen and everyone arrives safe at camp.
There are no lights in the tent at Abar Layla, so downloading the trucks is even more of a hassle than loading. This chaos is amplified by the fact that everyone is tired. By the time I bunk down, after shooting a few clips of the chaos, it is about 230. Word comes that we will be making a first visit to Abar Layla to meet with the government there at 900 hrs. Five short hours later I am awake and looking forward to breakfast, which to my surprise, is served hot. That was a good thing for morale. I ate my French (possibly freedom) toast with a smile.
The trip to Abar Layla is pretty much uneventful. The exception being that the media and the fake media are kicked out of the meeting between the Army and the village people (not intentionally funny, but upon re-read, I almost laughed out loud). One of the soldiers also fired a warning shot because a civilian vehicle was encroaching upon him and not complying with their orders.
The rest of the day has been extraordinarily boring and hot. We've been holed up in our tent all afternoon awaiting the next mission that has room to carry us along. Most of the soldiers have been sleeping or cleaning their M16s, with a few sharpening knives. At least I had the opportunity to blog and recharge the camera batteries.
Read more
Read what Ben Bauman's fifth day was like in his travelogue.
Jackpot, today was not a wash. Ben and I had time to speak with several members of this group without interruption. They all had various experiences to share with us about why they serve, how they cope, and what their civilian life is like. Later in the afternoon I am able to shoot some good b-roll of Ben and me chatting with the guys. They are open and honest with us even as I pull out the camera. They discuss Army wives, and their admiration of them. They also discuss how they got to where they are today. We touch briefly on Sept. 11th. On this topic they ask us what it was like in the newsroom that day. Ben was in the radio business at the time. He talks about all the TV’s in their newsroom and how Bryant Gumbal was talking over the second plane's impact and missed it. I was still at KU and not actively working for any media outlet at the time. I simply observed. Unfortunately we don't get much of the soldier's stories because of some commotion in the tent. Henning remembers watching in his recruiter's station in Wisconsin. Cady mentions that he signed up in April of 2003, right after the invasion of Iraq. I don't have the chance to ask him his thoughts on the course of the war. During informal and formal interviews, I have gathered that the majority of Iraqi citizens are glad that Hussein was overthrown. Obviously not everyone over there is happy with that, but the soldiers are glad to be a part of the mission to restore order in Iraq. Maybe that answers my question without asking it.
I had another very interesting conversation with two privates outside the main tent. I was outside wandering around looking for a good shot at sunset in our new location. The two privates asked if I was enjoying my time here. I think they were pretty much just being polite. I told them that I was liking it because of all the things I was observing regarding warfare while still being able to be assured that I would not become a target. Then they said something that really shocked me. One of them said they were surprised that Kansas was so anti-military. "Really?" I replied. They went on to say that especially in Manhattan, specifically Aggieville, they don't necessarily feel all that welcome. We continued our chat and their thought was that you basically have two large groups of people, Ft. Riley and K-State, in close proximity, who have a strong rivalry. I guess I can see what they are talking about. College campuses seem to be the frontlines of any anti-war effort. I tried to convey that their experiences as twenty-something Army privates going out in Aggieville might not be the sum of the support or criticism for "our troops." Our conversation was cut short by orders for them to get their trucks ready for a night road patrol. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to explain the second part of my viewpoint on the subject of Army support around Ft. Riley. Hopefully they will be able to read this at some point. I would have gone on to say something like this (however it probably wouldn't have been such a long and thought out argument): In my time with KTKA, I have covered a fair amount of military subject matter. It has included soldiers returning from Iraq, Ride for the Wall, a Brigade re-flagging ceremony at Ft. Riley (which happens to be this brigade), as well as a few other events. My conclusion from this is that the communities of NE Kansas, because of their proximity, do "support our troops." I see this on bumper stickers and billboards all the time. I also believe that many civilians have grown tired of this seemingly endless war that was fought for the reasons that our president wasn't aware of. I still don't know if we belong there, time will tell I guess. I do know that it is possible to "support our troops" without believing in the need of this war. To me, providing support means more than thinking Bush and the U.S. government is always right. Unfortunately the political parties spend too much time labeling the public as anti or pro war and this gets translated into anti or pro military. Support means doing what we can to help, including requesting that our government come up with a reasonable way to end the mess that they started. Support can happen in other things, from playing good hosts while they are stationed at Ft. Riley, or sending a care package to the forces in Iraq. In summary, political viewpoints should be completely removed from thoughts and actions involving the “our troops”. They have as many reasons for serving our country as we have for criticizing it. The two young men who shared this viewpoint with me live in a very thin slice of the world while stationed at Ft. Riley. They may not see everything that the greater Ft. Riley community does to accommodate the soldiers. I do hope that they realize that there are many efforts made to make them feel welcome though.
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