Jane Stillwater’s 3rd Report: — Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1

Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1

By Jane Stillwater
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com

March 30 — we finally received our orders to fly out of Kuwait and into Baghdad.  Hurray!  Now all I have to do is get my passport back from the Kuwait visa inspectors and I’m good to go.

“Stillwater?  Here’s your passport.”  Whew.  “Now line up here and wait.”  I did.  This is exciting.  And perhaps a little too real.  Two hours later, we boarded a plane.  It was a big one, a real  work of art.  It was as big as a football field inside, no windows, no frills — just one big warehouse.  The pallets with our gear on them were stored in back of us and troops lined the walls and took up seats in the center.

This plane is spooky.  Forget everything you ever experienced on Continental, United or Delta.  This plane is weird.  Exposed pipes run along the 20-foot-high ceiling.  Wires hang loose.  There’s a plywood floor.  There’s NOTHING decorative about this plane at all — except that they gave us nicely-colored earplugs to baffle the sound.

While waiting in some tent or other for the plane to take off, the soldiers I sat next to took turns telling stories.  I love