The Mission to Habaniya
Last Tuesday I was given my first mission to go “outside the wire.” Basically, the mission was to visit Habaniya, an old Iraqi airstrip with large hangars, and several beat up buildings. The purpose of the mission was to visit our Delta company (They prefer to be called 779th, because they are mostly a TN unit that is attached to us.) Delta Co. is a maintenance company run by a short female captain with a heavy Tennessee draw. The Commander sent me on this mission to basically assess morale among the soldiers.
Preparing to leave the wire takes work, paperwork, that is. All trips outside the wire must be in a convoy of no fewer than two vehicles. Originally, I was going to catch a ride with a Logpac (supply line) so as to make the trip as easy as possible. On the day I was preparing to go, we learned that a five ton truck (with crew) and two soldiers from the signal corps needed to go to Habaniya, as well. This meant we could take our own (shared) vehicle and that I would be driving. When we approached one of the sergeants from whom we usually borrow a vehicle, she stated, “Oh, Habaniya...” with an ominous tone.
The two soldiers who accompanied me and SPC Hargrave had made this trip before. They sat in the back seats and the one sergeant handled the trip ticket through the window of the humvee when we approached the gate. I asked him directions. He pointed out the curving road ahead of us and then told me that a bridge followed. “Once you hit the bridge, give it all you got.” With that said, he instructed the occupants to charge their weapons. I hit the bridge and gave all that the engine had. We raced across it at 25-30 mph. (Remember these are up-armored humvees.) As I was driving, I looked to the left and right of me on to the highway below and further on through the reeds of the Euphrates in order to spot any snipers. As we came toward the end of the bridge, I asked the sergeant for more directions. He said straight ahead and in less than a minute we were at the gate to Habaniya. “Is that all it is?” “Yes.” The drive over must have taken less than two minutes! All joking aside, however, vehicles do sometimes shoot from the underpass and snipers from the reeds. The Euphrates where we are is no wider than some parts of the Conestoga Creek.
Camp Habaniya has grass and palm trees and experiences regular (almost daily) mortar attacks and small arms fire. Our camp is mostly barren and experiences infrequent mortar attacks. When we finally located our soldiers on the sprawling and deteriorating complex, they were really glad for our visit. A handful of soldier/college student types (male and female) were working on the engine of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. They loved what they were doing because they were getting to do their MOS (job description) and “learning something new every day.” We went around and spoke with many others who seemed relatively happy with how their deployment was going. I appreciated their attitude and the way bonds seemed to be forming. I noticed one soldier who was not feeling all that well lying back on a chair. He had stomach cramps. Apparently everyone went through a touch of diarrhea, but no one was worse for wear. The next day at dinner, one of the soldiers approached me in the mess hall and said cheerfully, “Since you visited us we decided to visit you.”
Preparing to leave the wire takes work, paperwork, that is. All trips outside the wire must be in a convoy of no fewer than two vehicles. Originally, I was going to catch a ride with a Logpac (supply line) so as to make the trip as easy as possible. On the day I was preparing to go, we learned that a five ton truck (with crew) and two soldiers from the signal corps needed to go to Habaniya, as well. This meant we could take our own (shared) vehicle and that I would be driving. When we approached one of the sergeants from whom we usually borrow a vehicle, she stated, “Oh, Habaniya...” with an ominous tone.
The two soldiers who accompanied me and SPC Hargrave had made this trip before. They sat in the back seats and the one sergeant handled the trip ticket through the window of the humvee when we approached the gate. I asked him directions. He pointed out the curving road ahead of us and then told me that a bridge followed. “Once you hit the bridge, give it all you got.” With that said, he instructed the occupants to charge their weapons. I hit the bridge and gave all that the engine had. We raced across it at 25-30 mph. (Remember these are up-armored humvees.) As I was driving, I looked to the left and right of me on to the highway below and further on through the reeds of the Euphrates in order to spot any snipers. As we came toward the end of the bridge, I asked the sergeant for more directions. He said straight ahead and in less than a minute we were at the gate to Habaniya. “Is that all it is?” “Yes.” The drive over must have taken less than two minutes! All joking aside, however, vehicles do sometimes shoot from the underpass and snipers from the reeds. The Euphrates where we are is no wider than some parts of the Conestoga Creek.
Camp Habaniya has grass and palm trees and experiences regular (almost daily) mortar attacks and small arms fire. Our camp is mostly barren and experiences infrequent mortar attacks. When we finally located our soldiers on the sprawling and deteriorating complex, they were really glad for our visit. A handful of soldier/college student types (male and female) were working on the engine of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. They loved what they were doing because they were getting to do their MOS (job description) and “learning something new every day.” We went around and spoke with many others who seemed relatively happy with how their deployment was going. I appreciated their attitude and the way bonds seemed to be forming. I noticed one soldier who was not feeling all that well lying back on a chair. He had stomach cramps. Apparently everyone went through a touch of diarrhea, but no one was worse for wear. The next day at dinner, one of the soldiers approached me in the mess hall and said cheerfully, “Since you visited us we decided to visit you.”
posted by Chaplain (CPT) Fokas at 9:04 AM
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