Anaconda or Bust, Pt. IV: Baghdad

We make the turn off of one MSR (Main Supply Route) to another which turns us in the direction of the Iraqi Capital city. The road is a four lane interstate-type highway. It is dark. There is a checkpoint at the turn manned by an Iraqi Security Force unit. Their job is to make sure insurgents don’t have free-reign over the road.

As we pass the checkpoint each vehicle with a radio calls in his location;

“Commando One-Six (the Convoy Commander), this is Scout,…passing ISF checkpoint, time now.”

Scout #1 and me, still ahead of the main body, drive into the dark. We dodge holes in the road and inspect each one with a spotlight as we pass. There are a lot of holes in the MSR. We don’t like this road very much because of its trashy condition. IEDs are often camouflaged in trash and there are lots of places to hide them on this route.

“Commando 1-6, this is Scout, passing blown tire on the right…marking with chemlight…its clear. Over. “
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

There are bushes, piles of old barbed wire, trees, and lots of previous blast holes in the road from IEDs of days gone by. We check each one and mark them. Something is moving off to the side. It’s a dog. A stray dog in Baghdad. What a miserable existence that animal must have.

“Commando 1-6, this is Scout. Iraqi Army checkpoint ahead. Crossing median, time now.”
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

This area of Baghdad is pretty remote. It is lined with junk yards, cluttered lots, piles of construction debris, and not much that appears to be worth a damn. Areas like this are prone to attacks on convoys but tonight…so far…none have occurred. This part of the route lasts for several miles before we come to our next change of MSR.
We maneuver a maze of checkpoints, sharp turns, and on-ramps to get onto the next part of the route. This part is particularly hairy. It is known for its frequent attacks. There are many checkpoints and guard shacks on the route to keep the insurgents in check. Each one we pass has men with weapons, staring into the darkness, looking for the enemy.

“Commando 1-6 this is Scout. Passing Iraqi T-70 tank. Pass on the right.”
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

There isn’t much chatter on the radio during this leg of the journey. Everyone’s eyes are trained on the route around them; total focus. We turn onto the final MSR that takes us out of Baghdad proper and leads us out of the city then northward to Anaconda. It’s almost daylight. We’ve been on the road for about 5 hours non-stop except for the occasional ‘code yellow.’ I used to be responsible for this part of town. It’s a homecoming of sorts: a strange homecoming. Even in the dark I can see it has changed….more concrete barriers, more fences, more crappy Iraqi buildings, more war damage than 4 years ago. It appears to have gotten worse. I’m a little sad to see that.

Civillian traffic is starting to pick up. As we clear Baghdad we get a call from the Movement Control Team. They tell us that we are to make an unscheduled stop at Taji. “What? You gotta be kidding me. We’re almost there?”

“SABER Main, this is Commando 1-6, Request permission to push straight to Anaconda.”
“Commando 1-6, this is SABER Main, permission denied. R.O.N. at Taji. Out.”

URON…Unscheduled Remain OverNight. It basically means stop, rest, move out tomorrow.
So, we pull into TAJI, a large logistics base north of Baghdad. We could have made it but this does a couple of things for us. It gets us breakfast in an hour or so, gets us another day’s rest, we get to hit one more large PX, and it adds one day to the already unusually long mission.

Sometimes you don’t get a vote. FIDO. Tomorrow we push north….again.

SABER 02,
out.