Division Street

Joys and jitters on the road to Baghdad

By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

Third Infantry won its nickname in World War I when the "third herd" stopped the Germans outside of Paris. They've been kicking butt and taking names since then.

This evening, a Thursday, I am on the road with our Antelope Valley brothers and sisters of the 1498th Transportation Co. They come to Camp Dogwood bearing gifts, a couple of skip loaders offloaded from their trucks. Next, they will take a bunch of tracked vehicles that the combat engineers need down to southern Iraq.

The major combat is over, but the minor combat continues daily. A couple of nights ago, two GIs were killed and another nine wounded at a road checkpoint about 30 miles east of Baghdad.

Our unit happened to be on that road that night. We were 15 miles or so away, but we hunkered down while the "engagement" cleared.

Meantime, it's about 100 degrees and I'm standing on the shady side of the truck with friends from Lancaster and Palmdale, Spc. Michael Keys and Sgt. Greg Carter, plus Sgt. Doug Duhaime of Hesperia.

We've traveled about 900 miles the last three days. Our stops have been at Iraqi Republican Guard bases that are now in the custody of the U.S. Army.

As I write this, the Fox News Channel in 3rd Division HQ announces that it's Bob Hope's 100th birthday. It makes me think of how many times Hope journeyed to the far end of the universe, risking safety and donating all of his soul to entertain the troops.

Can you believe it? Our friend and neighbor, Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey of Palmdale, the real life DI famed for his work on the History Channel's "Mail Call" show and for playing the hardest of "gunnies" in "Full Metal Jacket," the gunny from Palmdale, made it out to Camp Victory the other day on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.

He came to visit his friends and neighbors from the Antelope Valley and to feature Camp Victory in an upcoming History Channel television special. Yup, the troops of the "Big Awesome Truck Company" from the Antelope Valley and statewide are going global with the gunny.

I missed Ermey's visit because the convoy was headed to Baghdad. The Iraqi countryside is both friendly and menacing, filled with beautiful and friendly people and rife with sudden uncertainty and occasional peril.

But as we were working on a radiator for one of the 1498th's big trucks, the talk was not about war, or the future of Iraq. The talk, of course, was about the Antelope Valley.

"When are they going to get some of those big restaurants over in Lancaster instead of Palmdale?" asked Sgt. Carter. The answer: Of course they will, all in good time.

"I've got to say," Michael Keys said, "I'm really more an Applebee's guy than a Barnes & Noble guy. I just love the atmosphere at Applebee's."

Everyone agrees, Applebee's is indeed, nice, but Sgt. Carter offers, "My wife takes all of her church group to Barnes & Noble, and they have their scripture groups there, and they have a nice time."

Meanwhile, one sergeant, sitting on the heat-baked, cracked concrete of a former Republican Guard base, tells his first sergeant about the sniper dangers they are encountering on the road.

Camp Dogwood has its luxuries. All the trash and human waste must be set ablaze in trash pits, but there are mobile showers and hot chow served from a trailer, and the view is terrific. What were once Saddam's watchtowers now belong to this strong but benevolent force. Our boots now tread where his boots are consigned to the dust.

First Sgt. Phil Chepenik of 54th Engineers listened to his young sergeant's worries about snipers and booby traps. A veteran of Gulf War I, Chepenik sighed.

"The Romans fought for many years," he said.