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Home, at last …
As the wheels bumped the runway, a giant exhale.
No longer would the threats of Iraq linger. No, there are no roadside bombs in Texas, no masked men peaking around corners wielding grenade launchers and Kalashnikov rifles.
“You’re finally safe. You’re here in the U.S.,” said Cpl. Jessie Pester, from Green Bay, Wis. “The stress is off.”
Twenty-one hours later, and our journey mercilessly ended on a runway in Fort Hood, Texas. It was 2 p.m. in the Central United States and 11 p.m. in Iraq and Kuwait.
But, the time or the long journey — which really began a week before in Iraq — didn’t much matter to these soldiers. They were minutes away from seeing their loved ones on the parade field in front of 1st Cavalry Division headquarters.
And they felt safe.
Many of these soldiers will be reassigned to other units; some hope for recruiting or training assignments, which will keep them in the States for two or three years. Those staying with the 1st Cavalry Division can expect to be at Fort Hood for at least a year before returning to Iraq.
After the pilot welcomed us to the United States, he said, “Hopefully, you get to stay home for a good long while this time.”
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Yes, traveling during the holiday season can be a real hassle …
Our planeload of 308 soldiers from the 1st Cav’s 3rd Brigade landed at 6 this morning local time in Leipzig, Germany, the first of two stops en route to Fort Hood.
It is a 5 1/2 hour flight from Kuwait to Leipzig. Texas still seems very far away.
Leaving Kuwait was capped off by yet another long wait, but not before the notorious Navy-run customs check for contraband or booty from 15 months in Iraq. We emptied our bags, as Navy officials searched for everything from body parts to ammunition, all illegal to carry back.
As I was in line, a soldier was headed in the other direction with the military police, he said, because they had found C-4 explosives, or traces of it, in his bag.
After the check, we were quarantined in a small area for about 10 hours, with little to eat but pizza and canned barbecue beef and canned beans, and espresso drinks to wash it down.
In Leipzig, soldiers were lined up at the bathrooms to shave and in the gift shop to buy soft drinks, candy and souvenirs. The plane will be changing crews here and then we’re off to Bangor then, finally, Fort Hood.
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Leaving war is hell, too …
“I thought I was going to get on a plane, go to Kuwait, stop for two hours and go to Fort Hood,” Sgt. Puletua Fili, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said to one of his fellow soldiers this morning.
No such luck. Bravo Company’s stay in Kuwait has been extended by at least another two days. By the time such news reaches the Joes, it’s come down through so many layers of the chain of command, any explanation has been lost. It’s not even worth asking why.
Sgt. Fili is now scheduled to arrive on Friday afternoon in Fort Hood, by virtue of the fact that the first letter of his last name falls in the beginning of the alphabet. Those at the end of alphabet still don’t know when they’re leaving this desert camp, where the only warm place on a late November night is inside your sleeping bag.
6:45 p.m., Nov. 27: Pvt. Josue Lopez, 21, of Pharr, Texas; Spc. Bruce Avila, 21, of Herington, Kansas; and Spc. Sergio Martinez, 21, of Oxnard, Calif. play cards in the tent where Bravo Company is staying at Camp Virginia in Kuwait.
“There has been a little SNAFU with the flights,” 1st Sgt. Bobby Collela announced to his men last night. Bravo Company, already split into two groups coming home, has been split further.
That they wouldn’t be returning en masse, walking in formation together as they have for 14 months, across the reception hall in Fort Hood to waiting families and friends, already rankled many in Bravo Company.
Now, they’ve been mixed with others in 1-12 Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division on the flights home.
But, mostly they just want to get home, in any fashion.
“I’m pissed off and I’m tired,” Spc. Eric Nelson, of Austin, Texas, told me. “I took my last shower, I threw away my towel, my shower shoes. I had a feeling this might happen, but I was hoping for the best.”
Nothing else to do now, but play cards, watch DVD movies and read the latest issues of Motor Trend and Girls of Super Streetbike, and wait.
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The longest days … waiting to get home.
After 14 months of fighting a war, the last days are surely the longest for the 3rd Brigade
As the weeks drew near, these soldiers said they tried not to think too much about home. About the first kiss, the first meal, the first beer, the first shower. The more they thought about it, the slower time passed by.
But now, safely in Kuwait, just one plane ride from Texas, it’s all they think about.
Cpl. Jesse Pester, 26, from Greenbay, Wis., is looking forward to his wife’s meatloaf. Sgt. Juan DeJesus, 23, from Puerto Rico: all-you-can-eat fried shrimp at Red Lobster. Staff Sgt. Steven Johnson, 29, from Houston: “an actual, real steak.”
(They boil the steaks in the mess halls in Iraq, a common complaint of GIs.)
On Tuesday, still uncertain when they’d be leaving Kuwait to return to Fort Hood, Texas, these three soldiers found a little slice of home (if not the slices they were pining for): bad Chinese food. Camp Virginia, where we are staying on cots in an 80-man tent, boasts the Restaurant Panda Oriental, which offers chunks of chicken and steak and tasteless vegetables smothered in different flavored sauces. It could be the same chicken and beef they serve in the mess hall, but the sauces are different.
It turned out these soldiers weren’t the only ones avoiding Army chow for lunch.
The line ran 15 deep when we arrived and the crew at Panda Oriental was slinging scoops of multi-colored entrees on rice to a steady stream of camouflaged customers.
Hello Kuwait, where the sand looks better …
Once we were strapped in — 158 soldiers and one journalist aboard a C-17 — it was too loud for conversation. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, but left to solitary thoughts as the nose lifted and Iraq became a memory.
Some of these men will never return. They’ll leave the Army to find jobs that will allow them to spend more time with their families, to pursue university or trade school. Others who are staying have put in for duty stations that will keep them in the States for two to three years. Maybe by then, we’ll have Iraq figured out and they won’t have to come back.
First step home
As the two Chinooks thundered into view, a whoop and a cheer and then more.
“You’re so pretty,” shouted one GI. “I’ve been waiting 15 months for you.”
We ran in formation, laden with our duffles and ruck sacks, I with my laptop and camera, toward the chopper on the right. First, we handed the duffles forward, then the rucks, then we clamored on.
From my seat, I could see the ground out of the rear payload door. Our shadow followed us across the barren landscape on the moonlit night during the 25 minute ride.
We were headed from Forward Operating Base Warhorse to Logistical Support Area Anaconda, a country club of military bases in Iraq. It is so nice that members of 1-12 Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, flew there on three-day leaves from fighting the war in Baqouba. It is so large that a mortar can fall inside the wire, and you might never hear it.
There is a swimming pool, a movie theater, a Taco Bell, a Burger King and a Pizza Hut. There is probably a McDonalds, although I haven’t seen it yet. There are paved roads, paved sidewalks. There are women.
Today, I had my beard trimmed for $5 at a beauty salon.
The infantrymen I have come to know in Iraq bristle at the suggestion that serving here is a hardship at all, that the service members stationed here get the same hazardous duty pay that they received.
Still it’s a nice way station to home.
Today, they emptied their M-16 magazines in preparation for a flight to Kuwait, possibly tomorrow, one step closer to home.
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Sunrise on the final day
The sun rises on Saturday over Forward Operating Base Warhorse, my home for the past two weeks.
I leave tonight on a five-day journey to Texas with members of 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, that will take me by helicopter to a larger Air Force base nearby, and then by military cargo plane to Kuwait, and finally, by chartered commercial jet to Fort Hood, Texas.
A visit from a King
For Sgt. Terrell Atkins, posing for a photo with boxing promoter Don King was the highlight of his 14-month tour in Iraq.
“I’ll show that picture to my kids, my grandkids,” said Terrell, 25, of Le Compte, La., who has only a 5-year-old son, Terrell Jr., but was thinking ahead. He is a member of 2-15 Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
Don King came to Forward Operating Base Warhorse Saturday morning, where he introduced live three fights broadcast on pay-per-view television in the States and free on a projection screen in a gymnasium on the base. The soldiers served as the backdrop during introductions and hooped and hollered when they were on television.
In the main event, Ricardo Mayorga won a majority decision over Fernando Vargas to win the super middleweight title.
A unique challenge
The Commanding Officer’s Challenge was the last hard thing many of these men will do in Iraq. Some are leaving tonight. Others next week.
Fifteen members of Bravo Company, and two others from the Battalion 1-12, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, participated. Ten finished. Two threw up.
Devised by Capt. Marc Austin, of Buffalo, N.Y., a former college wide receiver, the cross-fit workout consisted to 10 events: 25 pull-ups, 25 dips, 50 push-ups, 50 body-weight squats, 50 dead lifts (135 pounds), 25 bench press repetitions, (135 pounds), 50 squats (135 pounds), 50 over-unders (35 pounds), 25 push press repititions (95 pounds) and 25 tire flips.
The tire flip is Capt. Austin’s favorite. Sometimes he comes to the gym just to flip the tire. It was taken from a giant vehicle called a PLS, or Pallet Loading System, which can pick up and move semi-trailer-sized containers.
Austin went first. His time, 22:21, ended up being second-best. Lt. Ryan Boeka, of Amarillo, Texas, won. His time was 17:50.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Boeka, who works out at least once a day. “I’m definitely spent right now.”
There were prizes for the top six finishers: a choice of two $60 cash awards, two Operation Iraqi Freedom decorative knives and two three-day passes. (Lieutenants were not eligible to receive prizes, however.)
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Thankful to be alive
Cpl. Wes Brooks, 24, of Buford, Ga. has probably been away too long.
“I don’t remember what it’s like to wear anything but ACUs,” Brooks said, using the acronym for Army Combat Uniform. “It’s hard to miss something when you don’t remember what it’s like.”
His Iraq tour was extended by three months, and like his fellow soldiers, he’s been in Iraq, aside for an 18-day leave, for 14 months.
On Thanksgiving, he said he was thankful to be alive. Of 27 soldiers in his platoon, 19 are coming home with him. Three were killed in action and five were wounded and flown home for treatment.
He is scheduled to leave tonight on a five-day journey back to Fort Hood, Texas, along with members of 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Bridage, 1st Cavalry Division. When he returns to Georgia next month on leave, he says he’s planning to accompany his brother, Will, a senior at Buford High School, to enlist in the Army as well.
When Wes was home, in April, he reenlisted for five years as an infantryman.
His best memory from his tour was a mission known as Turki Bowl. He worked as a gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle, for 17 days in a village called Turki, which was overrun by al-Qaida-linked fighters. The soldiers were holed-up in a compound and were forced to buy two goats from a local villager. They slaughtered, cleaned and grilled them over 55-gallon drums.
His mom, Tracey, a teacher at Buford Elementary, in Buford, Ga., is nervous about his deployment. His dad, Paul, he says, “loves me in the Army.”
Wes says he expects to be back in Iraq: “We need to be over here. We need to have some kind of presence here.”
For now, he’s looking forward to coming home.
“I will be completely happy once I reach U.S. dirt. Just knowing that I’m in the U.S. is good enough for me.”
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Mr. Gee, There are major problems with the care and treatment of veterans at the VA regional office in Decatur, GA. Veterans are complaining about the way their are spoke down to by the VA’s staff and the unprofessional way the VA’s regional
... read the full comment by Michael Bushell | Comment on Home, at last ... Read Home, at last ...
God Bless our soldiers. Bring all of them home from Iraq….now.
... read the full comment by Fred | Comment on Home, at last ... Read Home, at last ...
I enjoyed reading the blogs about the trip home from Iraq to Fort Hood. I was a Flight Attendant with Military Air Transport Service, flying troops and their families to Europe and Japan. That was many years ago but your blogs brought back some fond memories.
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Thanks. I’m so glad that there is a blog here that has some substance and importance.
... read the full comment by Mal | Comment on The longest days ... waiting to get home. Read The longest days ... waiting to get home.