.Live Blogging an Embed in Ramadi, Day 1
CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq – (12:21 p.m. Iraq time) Waiting around all day in a comfortable civilian airport can be a numbing experience. Waiting around in military hangar is probably worse. Will it be worth the wait?
My trip to Anbar Province to embed with a Marines Recon Combat Team in Ramadi began at 0655 with a trip to LZ Washington, a landing zone for helicopters in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Washington is where many reporters begin their embeds and it is where many American soldiers and their Iraqi counterparts spend their hours waiting for flights; a few inside a trailer but the overflow, sometimes scores of men and women, outside in blazing heat or bitter chill, depending on the season.
The dry weather this year has led to an increased number of sand storms and other weather conditions that ground all but the most essential helicopter flights. And so I’ve spent more hours than I would like this year sitting and waiting in Washington for flights that never materialize.
Because of security concerns, reporters are not told when exactly their flight will take off. So after showing my badge to the private security contractor who guarded the front of the LZ, I plopped myself down inside a trailer across from a pair of young soldiers and tried to get some sleep (I had been up late the night before making sure my RBGAN satellite connection was working properly so that I could file dispatches from the field).
Over the next few hours a crowd of Iraqi generals, private security contractors, Australians, soldiers and Marines streamed in, manifested for their flights and departed. They took turns making new pots of coffee, eating donuts, watching ESPN and scanning announcements on the bulletin boards.
One of the boards is covered in Post-It notes with Chuck Norris phrases that have been submitted by the soldiers, such as “Chuck Norris divides by zero” and “Death once had a near Chuck Norris experience.”
At 0900 I heard my name called and threw on body armor and helmet. I’m loaded down with gear for the week: a back pack with clothes, toiletries, my laptop and a small sleeping bag and a large video camera bag and tripod.
I went to the desk at the front of the trailer and a woman took my hand and wrote “TQ” in big black magic marker for “Taqaddum.”
Inside the trailer, you can feel the vibrations in your chest from the helicopters blades as they take off and land. Outside the noise can be deafening. I grabbed a pair of complimentary ear plugs and headed out to my flight. I showed my marked hand to the tail gunner and boarded the Marines CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter.
The CH-46 transport helicopter is currently being fazed out for the controversial V-22 Osprey.
Despite the inconveniences in waiting, soldiers generally agree that helicopters are preferred over traveling in a military ground convey. You can watch some video of the CH-46 at an air show here.
After zipping low and high over the Iraqi landscape for a few minutes we came to a rolling stop at Camp Taqaddum.
Camp Taqaddum is a relatively quiet post as is much of Anbar Province these days. I’ll be here until after dark tonight (about 11 a.m. E.S.T.) when I will take a second helicopter flight to Ramadi. I’m expecting a slow day so I’ll try to take advantage of that and answer as many questions from readers as I can.
One note: I got an email from a public affairs officer in Falluja, Iraq. She informed me that I will be embedding with the First Regimental Combat Team, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines – not the Fifth R.C.T.
Baghdad Bureau
My trip to Anbar Province to embed with a Marines Recon Combat Team in Ramadi began at 0655 with a trip to LZ Washington, a landing zone for helicopters in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Washington is where many reporters begin their embeds and it is where many American soldiers and their Iraqi counterparts spend their hours waiting for flights; a few inside a trailer but the overflow, sometimes scores of men and women, outside in blazing heat or bitter chill, depending on the season.
The dry weather this year has led to an increased number of sand storms and other weather conditions that ground all but the most essential helicopter flights. And so I’ve spent more hours than I would like this year sitting and waiting in Washington for flights that never materialize.
Because of security concerns, reporters are not told when exactly their flight will take off. So after showing my badge to the private security contractor who guarded the front of the LZ, I plopped myself down inside a trailer across from a pair of young soldiers and tried to get some sleep (I had been up late the night before making sure my RBGAN satellite connection was working properly so that I could file dispatches from the field).
Over the next few hours a crowd of Iraqi generals, private security contractors, Australians, soldiers and Marines streamed in, manifested for their flights and departed. They took turns making new pots of coffee, eating donuts, watching ESPN and scanning announcements on the bulletin boards.
One of the boards is covered in Post-It notes with Chuck Norris phrases that have been submitted by the soldiers, such as “Chuck Norris divides by zero” and “Death once had a near Chuck Norris experience.”
At 0900 I heard my name called and threw on body armor and helmet. I’m loaded down with gear for the week: a back pack with clothes, toiletries, my laptop and a small sleeping bag and a large video camera bag and tripod.
I went to the desk at the front of the trailer and a woman took my hand and wrote “TQ” in big black magic marker for “Taqaddum.”
Inside the trailer, you can feel the vibrations in your chest from the helicopters blades as they take off and land. Outside the noise can be deafening. I grabbed a pair of complimentary ear plugs and headed out to my flight. I showed my marked hand to the tail gunner and boarded the Marines CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter.
The CH-46 transport helicopter is currently being fazed out for the controversial V-22 Osprey.
Despite the inconveniences in waiting, soldiers generally agree that helicopters are preferred over traveling in a military ground convey. You can watch some video of the CH-46 at an air show here.
After zipping low and high over the Iraqi landscape for a few minutes we came to a rolling stop at Camp Taqaddum.
Camp Taqaddum is a relatively quiet post as is much of Anbar Province these days. I’ll be here until after dark tonight (about 11 a.m. E.S.T.) when I will take a second helicopter flight to Ramadi. I’m expecting a slow day so I’ll try to take advantage of that and answer as many questions from readers as I can.
One note: I got an email from a public affairs officer in Falluja, Iraq. She informed me that I will be embedding with the First Regimental Combat Team, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines – not the Fifth R.C.T.
Baghdad Bureau
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