Driving In The Dark: Another long, strange trip

I just returned from a trip up north the Anaconda. Anaconda is one of the super bases here in Iraq. that I wrote about it earlier this summer. I had to attend an Intel meeting so I decided to go there by the Saber Squadron's preferred means on transportation: a convoy.
One of the reasons I went was to go on one of our convoy escorts. Its one of our regular missions and it’s our biggest one. The trip from COB Adder to Anaconda is just under 300 miles and we do it in one night: a long, dark night. From start to finish we drive the trip in about 10 hours with only one scheduled stop. Sometimes we have to stop to check out things on the road or get a quick pit stop but generally we knock it out in two ‘legs.’

We drove this mission with the Commando 1-6 escort team. On this trip I was the driver. Our Brigade S2, Major Christianne Ploch was the vehicle commander (this was her first trip), and our gunner was one of my intel analysts, SGT Samuel Murphree. This was Murph’s second trip to Anaconda.
There are no positions on military convoys that are comfortable. The seats are slightly cushioned, you are surrounded by radios, gps trackers, computers, jammers, and you wear all of your stuff. By stuff I mean our helmets, body armor, protective eyewear, bulky headphones and a few other things. On top of all that we are strapped in like an astronaut on the space shuttle. There isn’t much wiggle room.

These trucks are built for missions…not for comfort. Military vehicles are designed around engines and weapons. People are given a space but ask any soldier about that space and he or she will say it isn’t enough. There is adequate room for a person in uniform to sit but the designers failed to factor in the extra space the body armor takes. It is tolerable but not very comfortable (I’ll have some cheddar with my whine thank you).
The trip was all at night. We left about sundown after a quick meal on our Hummvee hood. We drove for hours, keeping each other alert by talking on the radios and drinking Gatorade and a few Red Bull type drinks called ‘Rip-Its’. Our A/C didn’t work very well so we downed a lot of Gatorade. You have to pace your fluid intake so you don’t risk fluid outflow if you know what I mean. Pulling over and finding a suitable latrine isn’t very easy or common. You just have to pace yourself.

This was my 4th trip on the road since I’ve been here. This also happened to be my second blown tire. I guess I’ve got a knack for destroying tires. On this night’s mission I happened to be the trail, or last, vehicle in a 50-vehicle convoy. When my tire blew it wasn’t immediately noticeable so the rest of the convoy pulled ahead of me before I realized I needed to stop. When I stopped, it was my truck, my wingman, and a sea of darkness….we were in southwest Baghdad. Not the best place to have a flat.
We set up security, turned off all the unnecessary lights and had another gun truck come back to assist. Our crew was new so it was a slow process. It also didn’t help that we were wearing all of our body armor which is somewhat cumbersome. It took us about 30 minutes to get the 15,000 pound truck jacked up, wheel replaced, and put the truck back in service. We couldn’t have done it without the help of some of our KBR Trucker friends we were escorting. They had some special equipment which helped us get the tire changed.

After the 4am tire change we got back on the road and proceeded north through Baghdad and on to Anaconda. The sun began to rise as we made the final leg to the base. We hit the gate at about 6am after 11 hours on the road. We were smoked but we did make it. When our heads finally hit the pillows at about 10am we quickly found deep sleep.
That was a long trip. Since I was at Anaconda for a conference I got to rest up. I broke contact with Commando 1-6. I would ride back with another escort team. Commando 1-6 was due to return that night after a quick 7 or 8 hours of sleep. It’s what my Squadron does here in Iraq. We escort convoys. We have gotten pretty good at it.

SABER 02,
Out.