Virtual Deployment

I deployed to Iraq in Novemeber 2005 to May 2006 as part of the 22nd MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) in support of OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom).  The MEU is a self sustainable unit consisting of air and ground assets, a support group, and of course a command element. I was part of 1/2 BLT, that is 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines Battalion Landing Team, which was the infantry unit attached to the MEU that operated on the ground.  It was a very tenuous time in my life as i had no idea what to expect upon entering a war zone. 

We left Camp Lejuene, NC early on Novemeber 5th, 2005 via bus in route to Moorehead City to board our respective ships of the Expeditionary Strike Group (USS Nssau, USS Austin, and USS Carter Hall) and set sail for the Persian Gulf.  I was fortunate enough to be on one of the smaller Amphibiuos ships, the USS Austin (LPD-4), where being a Medical Officer, had the luxury of enjoying my own state room for the entire trip.  Check it out below:

The ships crew treated us (the embarked marine companies) very well and went out of their way to make us feel right at home during the holiday season ahead.  We had a ceremonious affair for the Marine Corp's Birthday and a wonderdful menu for Thanksgiving.

The transit across the Atlantic Ocean took 2 weeks and a rough 2 weeks it was.  The Atlantic seas during Novemeber are treacherous, but nothing a few Meclizines and plenty of time in the rack couldn't handle.  Resupplying while underway is quite feat.  For fuel, a ship pulls along side and feeds an oil hose across and pumps thousands of gallons of fuel to the receiving trip.  Sometimes they can unrep 2 ships at the same time. 

For mail and other consumables, usually a vertical replenishment will suffice.

We entered the Mediterranean Sea in mid November and got a fabulous glimpse of the Rock of Gibraltar.  Then we made a port call in Cartegena, Spain, which is a little town on the east coast of Spain.  Never having been outside of the continental US, other than the Bahahmas of course, i had a great time and was very impressed with the ancient architecture and culture of this small european town. 

We left Cartegena and set out for the Suez Canal.  One can only transit the Suez by appointment so it was utterly important that we arrived on time.  The Suez was much narrower than I expected, literally just wide enough to fit one Navy ship at a time, so we transitted in single file fashion.  The Egyptian military patrols the boundaries heavily because we pay mucho dinero to pass through and they would not want to jeopordize this income.  Here's a look at the canal:

We arrived in Kuwait and offloaded all of our vehicles and troops via landing craft, which was quite an evolution.  We made it ashore and loaded our gear onto semi trucks destined for Ali-A-Saleem airbase in Kuwait where we would catch our flight (C-130) for Al-Asad, Iraq (Al-Anbar province).

Al-Asad was one of Sadaam's old airbases that the U.S. occupied.  It is a very nice facility, commonly known as "Camp Cupcake," due to its many amenities.  In fact, it is the only base in Iraq that some of the more reknown reporters will stay at.  We saw Oliver North there in Decemeber.  There is a huge gym, internet cafes, a swimming pool, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut, and of course a Mr Green Beans coffee shop!  There are also local vendors that set up a little market and trust me, you can get anything you want for American money.

From Al-Asad we set off for our final destination by convoy, a town named Hit (pronounced Heet) along the Euphrates river.  Here we would patrol the town and search house-to-house attempting to snuff out any and all insurgent activity.  We stayed in an old schoolhouse that was previously occupied by a west coast battalion (2/1) just prior to our arrival.  It was nice having a hard-walled building, but of course no water or heat, and electricity by generators only.  And believe me, it got cold over there, so cold that marines' canteens and camelbacks would freeze solid while they were out patrolling.

We set up a small BAS (Battalion Aid Station) with 3 stretchers and some other supplies which fortunately we did not have to use very often.  So to maintain company morale my chief and I built a large deck with a fire pit and grill in the middle and we had a fire burning every night with hot chocolate and chai (Iraqi tea) which is pretty much warm sugar water, but it was good anyway.  Occassionally we would score some burgers or hotdogs from the supply trucks or the Iraqi soldiers would get us some chicken or lamb and we would have a real feast. 

We worked with a small platoon of Iraqi soldiers to teach them military maneuvers.  They were very amusing and often incorporated their cultural rituals into daily operations.

Christmas was tough but we made the best of it.  The kind people at Give-2-the-Troops came through with a huge box of santa hats and stockings which really helped to lift spirits around the FOB (Forward Operating Base).  We got some chickens and flatbread from our iraqi friends and did a gift exchange that my corpsmen really enjoyed.  We even got to call home on the satellite phone, but of course time was limited to no more than 5 minutes each.  Check out my version of the 12 Days of Christmas.

We went on a few missions where we swept several miles along the Euphrates river bed in search of insurgentry.  Ironically we uncovered hundreds of tons of hidden explosives when one marine struck something metal while digging a hole to go to the bathroom.  Watch how marines are trained to handle weapons carefully.

When we would uncover large amounts of hidden explosives we would call in EOD (Explosive Ordinance Detatchment) to organize a controlled detonation.  Check out the lag time between the explosion and the bang!

We returned to Al-Asad after 3 months in Hit; unfortunately without the same number of troops that we had arrived with.  We had 3 fatalities and a few casualties the worst being one of my corpsmen who suffered bilateral lower extremety amputations.  

We hung out in Kuwait for a few weeks as a reserve unit and finally boarded our respective ships for the transit home in March.  Watch this landing craft enter the welldeck:

We didn't head straight for home though.  We had an exercise to do in Djibouti, Africa, otherwise known as "The Horn of Africa" or HOA, where some of the marines went ashore, but I got to experience the Navy tradition called "shellbacking."  Shellbacking is a Navy ritual where a "Polliwog" (someone crossing the equator for the first time) is initiated and becomes a "Shellback."  Essentially you get humiliated and sprayed with a firehose all day.  It wasn't too bad, I've certainly been through worse.  Here's some humiliation, wardroom style:

So that was my deployment in a nutshell.  It was by no means a negative experience, in fact it was a very positive experience for me.  I got to serve my country doingand seeing things that most people could not even imagine. I also lost 25lbs and came back in the best shape of my life.  We returned to NC in early May and my corpsman that was injured was there to meet us, able to stand and walk with his new prosthetics. It was quite a welcome site.