Traveling to Baghdad

Had a break during the festivities involved to travel to Baghdad, so I thought I would do a quick post. Yesterday, we spent the day "outprocessing" to get ready to transfer to Camp Speicher. Part of the process involved, checking in our Level III waistcoats, along with NBC gear, as we can get new stuff when we get to Speicher, and avoid having to carry an extra 50 or 60 pounds of stuff while traveling. I hadn't remember how far it was to where I needed to check in the Level III stuff, so I also wore my Level IV waistcoat on the walk. I would need to let someone else verify by inspection what the GP (government property) number on my Level IV vest, so I thought I would take it all with me. I was soaked and concerned about heat stroke by the time I got there to drop off the NBC gear and Level III waistcoat. One of my friends had done the same thing, and I guess he isn't in as good physical condition as I am, so he was in trouble! He walked in, and started slinging stuff off, and was cussing (quietly, but loud enough I and the guy who was checking my stuff could hear him). When the vests hit the floor, they were clanging (steel and ceramic bulletproof plates in the vests, remember), and making a racket. I started laughing about the circus, and when Mike noticed me laughing, he got embarrassed and said "It slipped", which caused me to start laughing more. I was nearly rolling in the floor when he said that, and all three guys in the warehouse were laughing by now. Mike finally calmed down, and he started laughing. I told him later it was mean of me to laugh at him, and he said he thought it was all pretty funny now that it was over with.

We made it to Baghdad on the 5th, and overnited there. I bought some stuff at the Bazaar outside the PX there. I bought decals that say "Danger, Stay Back" written in English and Arabic, and a couple of patches saying the same thing to sew on my Hang Gliding and Paragliding harnesses, as well as some postcards. I also bought a fabric map of Iraq which is supposed to be a "survival" map in case you get separated from your convoy. AND, I bought a couple of patches for OB1, and Montana Jeff to put on the boots of their harnesses which say "American Convoy Ahead, Stay Back" If they are flying good at the comps, it will be a moot point, but if someone is catching them, maybe it will break the concentration of OB1 and Jeff's competitors, knowing they should stay back! It is a good thought anyway, and the guys should be able to get a laugh or two out of it, if nothing else.