A wait that demands patience

March 03, 2005

The line never seemed to shrink.

It was filled with smiling and laughing soldiers and led into a warehouse identical to the tin buildings we are living in.

Inside was the flight manifest for the brigade’s first major movement out of Iraq.

An Apache gunship is circling overhead as I type. The weather is perfect, a little overcast and there’s a strong, warm breeze. Humvees arrive almost constantly, bringing more of the brigade out here to surge housing.

The bunkbeds are full in 3rd Battalion’s warehouses here at surge housing, so they’re pushing the beds together to make room for cots.

You’d think it would be uncomfortable. It’s crowded, yes, but these guys make it as comfortable as possible.

From my chair I can see no less than four different card games being played. Sergeants are huddled in meetings about travel manifests, trying to keep up with the most recent of a never-ending stream of changes.

It is no small task to move 4,200 soldiers halfway around the world. The army relies on its non-commissioned officers to make sure every soldier makes every step needed to get home.

There are lists and revisions and roll calls and waiting.

There’s frustration, boredom and a lot of napping.

A humvee just rolled past with the words “Kuwait or Bust” scrawled in white chalk on its rear quarter-panel.

That pretty much sums up the attitude around here.

Kuwait is the goal. It’s within sight.

Once they get there, these soldiers will begin pushing toward home.

A group of 39ers is walking down the gravel road toward me with packages from the PX. They have cases of soda, snacks and magazines.

It doesn’t really feel like Taji here.

Well, kind of.

We can see the wire from here — the perimeter of the camp. We hear booms quite often and it’s dirty, dusty, so there’s no doubt it’s Iraq. But out here, among the metal warehouses, it just doesn’t feel like Taji.

We have to take buses in to the main camp and it’s a pain.

Two guys just returned and told me it took them five hours to get from here to the post office, chow hall and PX via the bus. I was able to bum a ride in a humvee and it took just under three hours.

The bus takes patience. There’s a lot of waiting involved.

I suspect we’re going to have to get really used to waiting for the next few weeks. Make a move and wait for the next one.

But each time we find ourselves waiting for the next step, we realize we’re one step closer to home.

Posted by Amy at March 3, 2005 04:47 PM