Close, but not yet

It took most of the day, one helicopter ride and one ride on an air force C130 to get me almost to where the 298th is based. It was barely bearable lugging three pieces of heavy luggage on to and off of the transports, especially since they don't exactly pull up to the passenger area. There is just one more leg to go. Right now, I'm at Camp Sleicher, which is near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. It is a rather large base, and tomorrow, I'm going to spend most of the day taking photos and talking to soldiers.

I did meet a private from East Baltimore today. His name is Julian Dove. I did a 30 minute interview with him. He said there's a female soldier here who is also from Baltimore. He is going to tell her I'm here in the hopes that we can hook up.

There was also a jazz quintet playing here today, all of them soldiers stationed in Hawaii. Before today, I didn't realize that "band" was an army MOS. They were pretty tight, and moved easily between ballads and hard bop. Judging by their song selection, they seemed particularly fond of Coltrane and Miles.

I left the international zone at about noon today to catch a helicopter ride to Baghdad International and a plane from there to Camp Sleicher. Not only did I have to leave just before a press conference by Gen. George Casey, but I didn't see much of the zone. The heliport was probably five minutes from where I spent the night, and on the way, all I could see were barricades, military vehicles and few human beings. It was surreal at best.

During the chopper ride to BIAP, I did get an aerial view of parts of the city. Like I wrote in my last blog, there were neighborhoods that looked like any suburban neighborhoods, with nice, spacious houses, yards and driveways. But there was also a sense of decay and it looked like a city that's been abandoned. I was told that many people who could afford to leave have left. Fear could also be keeping people indoors.

On my way to BIAP, I started a conversation with a Black contractor for Kellogg, Brown and Root. But when I asked him for on-the-record comments, he declined because the much-maligned KBR is telling it's contract workers not to do any media interviews. He did tell me that he's making six times what he made per year at his previous job. That's a pretty good incentive.

Tomorrow, I'm to hop a helicopter to the finally reach the 298th. I've heard that it's pretty quiet where they are and that I may be able to go off base to see some rebuilding projects.