I woke up thoroughly disoriented, the basement was still pitch-black, and it took me a handful of seconds to get a bearing on where I was, which is a disconcerting experience when you realize you have woken up somewhere in Baghdad.  There is nothing quite like gaining consciousness in the bowels of a base in Baghdad to throw the day into rather unique  perspective.

My father’s bed was empty, he was already out and about, and I got dressed, intent …

We arrived at Apache late at night, and as with War Eagle, our view of the COP was obscured by darkness. I couldn’t see clearly out the window because of the backpack in my lap, but I caught a glimpse of an enormous building, and remembered that Apache was next door to a palace once occupied by one of Saddam’s wives. I hoped to get a better look at it in daylight, looking at the palaces was always an interesting …

That night we departed from War Eagle, finally making the last leg of our journey to Apache. We were due to arrive via the Silver Lion Express, a convoy that traveled between the various COPs in Aadamiyah, its primary purpose shuttling people around, getting personnel and supplies where they needed to go. They met us outside Brigade HQ, a train of four Humvees, their headlights cutting through the dark  Baghdad night.

We managed to get all of our gear into …

Much is said about the dangers the troops face, but understanding the nature of the threats is difficult, the news reports will often give numbers, but without context those numbers are just another series of pixels on the bottom of the television. Things like IEDs, EFPs, and small arms fire are easy to conceptualize, but without seeing them firsthand any sense of danger or urgency is lost.

I know this because I haven’t seen any of these things firsthand. My …

Our meeting with Colonel Hort was later in the day, and turned out much differently than I had expected. These types of meetings are built on a solid routine: you go in, talk to the commander, we discuss our project, he discusses his OE (Operational Environment), a little back and forth occurs on specifics, and we are sent on our merry way. The meetings are unvaryingly informative, yet except for the details, interchangeable.

The meeting with Col Hort veered from …

After waking up and having some breakfast I took sometime to explore War Eagle, to poke my head around and get a sense of where I was. We were due to meet Colonel Hort, the Brigade Commander, later in the day; I figured that now was as good a time as any to be nosy.

War Eagle was a much different FOB (Forward Operating Base) than others I had been to. Taji and Falcon had seemed more like small cities …

We left the dining hall, our stomachs feeling like we had just eaten a bowling ball and all ten pins in the lane. We had received word that the convoy that would take us to War Eagle was spooling up, and we quickened our pace; we had no desire to get marooned at Taji, and I was eager to get Apache. We picked up our gear, got into our IBAs (Body Armor), and headed out toward the trucks taking us …