Good Morning Baghdad!

Camp Boehring was to be my home for a little over three days after leaving Fort Benning, and it was hot.  As we cruised into our final approach the sun was just beginning to come up over the horizon, and it was difficult to tell sky from earth.  The sand streched on to what seemed infinity as it blurred with the dust clouds which hung low to the ground.  So let me stress again, it was hot.  When they opened the doors to the plane it reminded me of opening the oven door to check on some food - the heat hits you like a wave and immediately the sweating commences.  It seemed escpecially bad in contrast to the snow that was falling during our layover in Leipzig.

We settled into our buses, strangers in a strange land, not quite sure what to make of it.  Our immediate instructions were to keep the curtains on the bus windows closed tight - a convoy of buses with soldiers on it could make for a nice target.  It took about an hour to reach Ali Al Salem - an Air Force base north of Kuwaiit City.  When we got there we started the arduous task of unloading our bags once again.  After that we were seperated based on our final destination, and away we went to Camp Boehring.

At Camp Boehring, we went through yet some more training, with a particular emphasis on IED's.  For those that don't know, IED stands for improvised explosive device, which accounts for most of the casualties in Iraq today.  I can't talk a lot about the specifics but suffice to say that the bad guys have come a long way and are quite skilled at blowing things up.  It is an interesting cat and mouse game between the Coalition Forces and the insurgents - they come up with a new way to kill you, and we come up with a new way to prevent it, with each step becoming more and more technologically advanced.

The most interesting experience I had during my stay at Boehring was the Humvee rollover training.  Besides IED's, the second most common cause of morbidity and mortality in Iraq today is caused by vehicles that flip over.  The armor and turret make the vehicles very top-heavy - it doesn't take much of an angle to flip them.  So the Army decided that everyone had to go into the simulator to practice getting out of a flipped vehicle.

Eight of us piled into the back of the Humvee with our Kevlar helmets and body armor - in addition to the near total darkness and the tight seat belts it was a bit claustrophobic. The simulator then rocked to the left and to the right before finally flipping completely upside-down. We then had to get to our buckles and basically fall onto the roof of the vehicle all while trying to avoid landing on our heads or the guy next to you. We repeated that fun little procedure two or three more times, each time attempting to exit via a different route. By the end I had had quite enough and my neck is still sore because of it.

There was one unexpected treat in the middle of the desert - Starbucks! The coffee at Fort Benning was horrible and scarce. We all had begun to experience coffee-withdrawal headaches and this little oasis was perfect - I half expected it to be a mirage!

The rest of the time spent in Kuwaitt involved once again going to the range just to make sure that our weapons still worked.  We headed about 20 minutes outside of the base to a range where we waited for over two hours to shoot.  Finally, fed up with no information, the Colonel in our group asked what the hold up was.  Apparently the local bedoins were out just beyond the range with their camel herd(not in kansas anymore).  The soldier in charge of the range said that they couldn't make them leave and we couldn't fire while they were there.  So, after standing in the heat of the day for hours we piled back into our transport and headed back to base.

That evening we found out that we were scheduled for our second red-eye flight in less than one week.  We were to load the buses at 1:30am for our flight which wasn't scheduled until 7am.  Since it was already late at night we decided to just stay up all night.  A bunch of us went to the recreation center and watched movies.  Then when the time came we loaded up our bus and started our final trek towards Iraq.

On a side note, I just wanted to say that the support through email and comments posted to my blog from my friends and family have been tremendous.  They keep me upbeat - I really don't deserve it but all the support makes me feel like one of the luckiest guys out there.  I just got reliable internet so I hope you all understand if I haven't gotten back to you yet but I certainly will soon.  Again, thanks it means a lot.

Wrapping up at Fort Benning

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of days but I’ve been so incredibly busy over the past 4 days or so. I also haven’t had any access to the internet so was unable to load up any new posts. Last Thursday and Friday were the last two days that I spent on Americxan soil and already it seems like ages ago.


Thursday and Friday were spent at Fort Benning mainly getting the rest of our equipment. The highlight was definetly the shooting range on Thursday. That was the day that I needed to qualify shooting a 9mm Beretta at some pop-up targets. I had a great deal of anxiety about this because I had only fired a pistol twice before – once when I attended Officer Basic Course 8 years ago and the other time was just before I left with my brother Adam at a range in NJ.

Most of my fears had been put aside when I learned that we would have a course before going to the range. The course was taught by a bunch of retired Army soldiers and they were amazing teachers. When the two hours of instruction were over they had me feeling confident that I could not only use the weapon to defend myself, but also disassemble and clean it without forgetting how to put it back together again.

At the range we were required to hit 16 out of 30 pop up targets to pass. The targets would stay up for three seconds and you had to hit them before that in order for it to count. The same instructors that tuiaght the course were also available as coaches during the qualifier to help you through it if need be. I jumped at the chance for a coach even though I was the only one to do so in my group. I’ve come to learn that there is no shame in asking questions or for help – especially with something as important as defending yourself. With little actual aid, I was able to knock down 22 out of 30, enough to earn me sharpshooter status!

At dinner that night I got the opportunity to talk to some of the linguists that would be traveling with the Army to help with translating in Iraq and Afganistan. Most of these guys had amazing stories and I was in awe of them. One told me of how he fleed Afganistan and the Taliban shortly after 9/11 and came to the US. He then self-taught himself english in just one year’s time. He then decided to sign up with the military’s linguist program so that he could help the US take control of his country and free his family of the oppression that they were experiencing. He had back to Afagnistan four times since 2001, and each time he was unable to tell his family that he was going to be there – if the Taliban found out, he assured me that his entire family would be killed.

Courage like theirs amazes me. Living alone in a foreign country, learning a new language all by yourself, and never contacting your family must really weigh on these guys. Yet they do it anyway with the hope that someday the they can return to their families in peace. Their bravery is incredible, and I don’t think that most people even know that people like this exist – I certainly didn’t. It’s a small gesture but I wanted to mention them in this post to acknowledge the work that they do.

Friday came and went with more briefings, and then the craziness began. As I had mentioned earlier I signed up for baggage detail for the flight, so I was up at 4 so start the loading process. It wasn’t actually that demanding of a task. Just line up the bags, count them and then stand back as a hired crew loaded the cargo on a truck bound for our plane.

By 9:30 the trucks were loaded and we headed to the airfield on Fort Benning. As we entered a large hall, it started to sink in that there was no backing out now. We went through security and ate lunch and then boarded the plane around 3 in the afternoon. As we prepared to board, several people addressed us, thanking us for the work that we were about to do. However, it was one person that didn’t speak at all that got the tears whelling up in my eyes. As walked towards the plane there was a line of soldiers there to shake our hands. As I got to the end I noticed a little old man, not in uniform. Wondering who he was I soon realized that his cap said WWII veteran and tears were streaming down his eyes as he shook our hands and said thank-you. That’s when all my emotions bubbled to the surface as I thought about what an honor it was that someone like him actually thanked me.

Struggling to pull myself together I set foot in the plane. I started to wonder if my devious plan to score great seats had backfired in my face when I noticed that there was no first class section. However, they did reward the baggage detail by giving us the middle seat in a row of five with no one on either side of us which was just as good.

Two and a half hours later we landed in Bangor, Maine, to refuel. As we got off the plane to stretch our legs, we were greated by the Freeport Flag Ladies who snapped pictures of us and along with other veterans again thanked us for our service – all the while I was thinking about how unworthy of praise I was – especially from people like that. They actually loaded up the pictures of us to their website which I linked above so that our friends and family could see us.

Seven hours later and with Bangor behind us we landed in the snow at Leipzig, Germany. After quickly refueling we boarded once again for our final destination. The flight to Kuwaiit City was about four hours and exactly 8 time zones from NYC. I was a little surprised to find out that my baggage duty had not quite finished as I found myself crawling up into the belly of the plane to unload all 800 or so bags with a crew of about 20. My entire body is still asking me if the middle seat was worth it!

Ok, think I’ll stop here since I’m sure that most didn’t get past the first couple of paragraphs anyway. All told we traveled for about 40 hours before actually getting to lay down in a cot – but more about that and my current location, Camp Boehring, later.

Trail of Tears

So the past two days rank right up there as some of the most miserable days of my life.  Ok, maybe that's being a bit too traumatic, but I'm so ready to get on the flight for Kuwaiit on Friday.  For the past 48 hours we have been issued everything that we will need for our deployment and then some.  Most of the stuff I'm sure that I will never use including items such as an entrenching tool (if I'm forced to dig my own trench something over there has gone horribly wrong), extreme cold weather gear(for those cool 90 degree nights in Baghdad), and body armor which I'm told is outdated and can't be worn in theater. 

It would be fine if we could decline to take certain items, but in the Army's infinite wisdom every item must be placed into a duffel bag and transported to Iraq.  The duffel bags are large and weigh probably 70lbs a piece so I'm not quite sure how they will be carried - tune in later for that.

The next two days are called the "long" days by people around here but I'm not quite sure what that means since the last two days have seemed fairly long.  On the bright side I'm told that the MD's don't have to be certified in CPR so we should have tomorrow afternoon off.  I will probably be venturing off post with a couple of the guys to pick up some last minute supplies and perhaps even a real meal.

Finally, as we were signing for the thousands of dollars of useless equipment that we had just picked up, there was a sign-up sheet for baggage detail on Friday.  After a sarcastic remark to the next person in line I was ready to head out the door - I mean I'm willing to help the next guy but lugging 70lbs bags for a couple of hours didn't seem like all that much fun.  It was then I read the fine print: volunteers for the baggage detail may receive better seating on the plane.  I quickly scribbled my John Hancock on the line and hope that it's true.  Otherwise I guess it serves me right for signing up not out of the goodness of my heart, but for the promise of extended leg room

Welcome to Fort Benning - now hurry up and wait!

As my deploymeny to Iraq approached last week I tried to think about ways to pass the downtime - books were loaded onto my new Kindle, my iTunes library was updated and I began to try and think about what else might help occupy the inevitable downtime that was coming my way.  So I decided to start blogging about my deploymeny experience.  I've never considered myself interesting enough to blog, but as I started saying my goodbyes to friends and family it dawned on me that everyone was very curious about the whole Army/deployment thing.

The truth is, I was very interested in the whole Army/deployment thing too.  Having been a civilian up until last July I was totally clueless about just about everything military.  I grew up in the Northeast and I didn't realize until I moved to Texas that in the rest of the country it was very common for people to join the military.  Where I'm from it seems to be the exception and not the rule.  I thought it would be enjoyable for people to learn about my experiences since this whole thing is so new to me and most of the people I know.

So let's begin....

On Saturday morning, Rachel, my wife dropped me off at the airport to attend CRC.  What is CRC you ask?  It's apparently the place you go before you deploy to make sure all your records and immunizations are up to date, and also where you get issued all of the gear that one needs to be deployed.  The next obvious question is, what does CRC stand for.  I didn't have the fogiest.  However, I'm happy to report that after nearly two days here, I've figured it out:  CONUS Replacement Center.  Unfortunately, the answer to the first abbreviation contains yet another abbreviation - hopefully I'll figure out what CONUS means by the end of the week.

CRC is held at Fort Benning which is a quick connecting flight from Atlanta.  When I got off the plane, I have to admit I was an emmotional mess on the inside.  It hadn't really sunk in that I would be leaving my best friend and wife for Iraq until I was placed on an Army bus.  I don't think I was the only one that was a little shaken.  The bus was immersed in silence as forty or so soldiers headed for unknown futures.  Many had been before, but the silence suggested that it wasn't going to be easy for the next couple of months.

Saturday and Sunday have been a whirlwind of activity.  They put you up in barracks in groups of four.  The rooms are anything but spacious and contain huge lockers to put your belongings in and that's about it.  I did feel right at home though when I hopped up to the top bunk - I shared one with my brother Adam for 18 years of my life.

So far, CRC has consisted of mainly a bunch of meetings(which the Army calls briefings), and a whole lot of standing in line waiting for signatures.  They said I will be shipping out on Friday, with the first destination being Kuwaitt.  From there it's anyone's guess as to how I get to Iraq.  Luckily, I was able to link up with the two other ER docs that I'm going to be deployed with to Iraq.  They have been really helpful so far telling me about the little things that I would never think of on my own that will help make the deployment as smooth as possible.

Now that I've caught up I think I'll stop here for now.  If you got this far, thanks.  I hope this blog will be helpful for other people who are preparing to deploy for the first time as well.