A Battlefield Tourist

The Home Stretch

Sep 24 at 9:09am by David Tate

It’s just about time to wrap this trip up.  I’ve only been gone three weeks and it seems like an eternity.  I can only imagine what the guys and gals here feel like after 15 months.  To the families out there:  Stay supportive, your people really need you.  Now is not the time to fight or cheat or whatever, especially if you’re in love.

Sunday, Roggio and I left PB Murray by convoy… thank God.  Not that I didn’t enjoy my stay, but I don’t think I could’ve handled another night of the fleas.  I am covered in welts and can’t stop itching.  Been incredible, in that sense, actually.  Oh… and thanks a ton to the jackass who took a crap outside of my metal box/sleeping quarters.  I do appreciate it.  In fact, I’d bet SFC Santiago thinks I did it.  Being a journo among Joes can be tough sometimes, but that’s another story.

Back at Camp Falcon, Bill and I wanted to get out ASAP to accept an invite for our last embed in Baghdad itself.  I’d seen enough of the country and wanted to at least experience city life here.  After being shot down by one Stryker Brigade earlier, we were extended an invite to join up with a different Stryker Cavalry unit (whose designation slips me right this second).  We only have three days left in country, so if we didn’t get off of Falcon quickly, we’d be out of luck.

Fortunately we found a “clip” (convoy) heading to Camp Striker the following morning, so we were in luck.  That gave us the day to catch up on internet, food, sleep or whatever.  I even got to watch my first few snaps of the 2007 NFL season.  Best part was that it included my favorite AFC team, the Nap-town Colts. 

Monday morning the convoy rolled in and we were on our way to Baghdad by early afternoon.  Once at Camp Striker, we hooked up with our new unit, who are already very gracious and seemingly truly happy to see us.  Too bad we only have one full day to be with them because their Area of Operation (AO) is the SE side of Baghdad and one of the last fully untamed areas of the city.  A neighborhood called Al Rasheed, more specifically, a place called Mechanics (sp?).