DAY 20, ROADTRIP

Today marked my first time "outside the wire." I rode in a convoy from Camp Victory (on the outskirts of Baghdad) to the "International Zone" (IZ) in the heart of Baghdad. We had to wear full battle gear and load our weapons. We normally bee-bop around base with the clips out of our weapons. So, it immediately became stressful when we loaded, climbed aboard the armored vehicles, and drove out.

The streets were full of normal auto traffic, people walking, bikes, kids playing, etc. Some of the suburban neighborhoods were somewhat nice, but there were definitely slums, too. It was very strange to be driving around city streets in a military convoy.

Once inside the IZ, we unloaded from the armored vehicles, met up with our coworkers based there, and dropped off our battle gear. The IZ is probably 10-20 square miles. We drove around in a suburban amongst the populace. That was weird. We stopped for pictures of the "crossing sabres" near some Iraqi soldiers. They all wanted pictures with us, so we obliged. I was on edge though, as I could see some of them looking at us sideways.


Anyway, we saw the old and new embassies, another of Saddam's palaces, the current Iraqi gov't HQ, and a few other highlights. The IZ is continually getting mortared from across the river. Usually it's just one or two, but enough to get attention. We made it through the day unscathed.

Seeing the young boys playing in the streets on the way back was surreal. It's just like what I had seen on TV. They waved, we waved. If it were only that simple . . .

159 days to go.