Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Section:Front Page
Page:1

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — After about 15 hours in the air, three in-flight meals, seven in-flight movies and two refueling stops, a flight of 300 soldiers with Tennessee’s 278th Regimental Combat Team touched down late Sunday at Kuwait City International Airport.

It was Sunday evening local time but felt like early Sunday morning for the travel-fatigued members in the third flight of 278th soldiers to arrive in the Middle East.

"The time is ticking now," said Spc. John Doherty, 23, of Knoxville. "We will get out of here soon enough."

The 278th, Tennessee’s largest National Guard unit, is scheduled for a yearlong deployment in Iraq, primarily along the border with Iran.

Despite getting off the plane, the soldiers had not ended their trek. They climbed out of the MD-11 aircraft and crammed themselves into the tighter confines of Mercedes-Benz buses with Arabic music drifting from the radios for a 2 1/2-hour ride with no restrooms.

Officers told the troops that insurgents gathering intelligence on the movement of U.S. forces are attacking the bus convoys.

A few soldiers loaded live ammunition into their weapons. The members of the 278th needed no more reminders they were now in a dangerous area. The enemy was not just in Iraq.

The soldiers fought back exhaustion and peeked past the drawn curtains of the buses, looking for suspicious vehicles as the convoy slowly moved down a road similar to a typical U.S. interstate.

More than two hours later, the caravan of more than two dozen buses had rolled down a long dirt road and entered Camp Buehring, Kuwait. The 278th soldiers sat down to eat about 23 hours after leaving Mississippi.

HOSTILE-FIRE PAY

Before trudging off to sleep inside tents, the soldiers swiped their identification cards into a computer so they could begin receiving their extra $100 a month hazardous-duty pay and $225 a month hostile-fire pay. This came as a welcome relief to the soldiers, many of whom said they had spent $2,000-$3,000 of their own money to prepare for deployment, according to Sgt. Ken Kay, of Red Bank.

The journey here had begun more than a day earlier with a 5 a.m. wake-up call Saturday at Camp Shelby, Miss. At that hour, gloomy skies unleashed a steady rain. Soldiers, reluctant to get soaked before the long ride, scurried to load into the belly of the plane their two duffel bags, while many carried onto the plane an additional two or three packs, including their personal laptop computers.

"It is amazing how much stuff you have to have to go over there and survive," said Sgt. Wendell Williams, 39, a mechanic from Tazewell, Tenn., as he settled into his window seat.

Inside, the chartered commercial flight looked just like any other plane. But the uniqueness of this trip hit home after one of the flight attendants, many of whom were wearing patriotic colors, warned the soldiers to "please put your guns under your seat with the butt end facing the aisle."

SURPRISE WELCOME

During the plane’s first refueling stop at Bangor, Maine, the flight attendant reminded the soldiers to keep their weapons on the aircraft. The soldiers had about 90 minutes to get their final tastes of American culture. As the soldiers headed into the concourse, about 40 locals, many of them retired military personnel who lined the gate’s exit hallway as a welcome party. "Y’all sure are friendly up here," said Staff Sgt. John Brown, 45, of Huntsville, Tenn., as he clasped the hand of a stranger. "This has about teared me up."

Some held aloft banners calling the troops heroes, and others cheered and clapped, but most shook the hands of every soldier coming off the aircraft. At the end of this greeting gauntlet other volunteers handed the many teary-eyed soldiers dozens of wireless phones for a free final call home. At a nearby room filled with free drinks and cookies, a banner on the wall declared 721 flights carrying 130,747 troops and two dogs had enjoyed Maine’s hospitality on the way to Iraq or Afghanistan.

"Someone is here for every flight no matter what time of day," said greeter Al Dall, 74, sporting a Korean War veterans’ hat and wearing a red sweatshirt bearing the words, "Not as lean, not as mean, but still a Marine."

"We were here one day from 12 noon to noon the next day," Mr. Dall said. "We had 10 flights with more than a thousand troops. We get them going and coming."

When the call came to reboard the plane, the locals lined up to say goodbye, but this time hugs replaced handshakes for many of the soldiers.

"Take care, be safe, and we will be here when you get back," said greeter Debbie Bickford.

For Sgt. 1st Class Jim Morrow, of Huntsville, Tenn., this 90 minutes in Maine washed away the bad memories he had of his return home from the Vietnam War more than 30 years ago.

"In the ’60s you had to sneak around the airport when you got back," he said. "This is such a unique, different experience. It gives me closure."

Moments later the aircraft lifted off the ground to take the soldiers away from American soil for the next 12 months.

"It’s real now, boys," Staff Sgt. Donald Hineman, 46, an automotive technician from Chattanooga, shouted as views of the ground below disappeared into clouds. "Believe it in your souls."

SHORTER FLIGHT

During a brief layover in Frankfurt, Germany, more than seven hours later, Howard Waller, an airline official, said the final leg of the flight to Kuwait now takes about two hours less because the United States has been granted fly-over rights by Turkey and Syria. Aircraft ferrying the soldiers used to fly a more scenic, 6 1/2-hour route over Italy and the Adriatic Sea before crossing the Mediterranean Sea, he said.

Mr. Waller said a possible sign that military leaders are bulking up forces in the region is the number of military chartered flights going in one direction.

"We are in one of those phases where we are just bringing people out and flying empty planes back," he said.

The landing in Kuwait brought back memories for some soldiers who had been here more than a decade earlier helping liberate the country from the Iraqis during the first Gulf War.

"The last time I was here this place was covered in black smoke and the sky was burning from the oil fires," Sgt. Hineman said.

Once inside Camp Buehring, Sgt. Jennifer Middleton, 46, of Clarksville, Tenn., said she had no idea what time it was in Kuwait but knew Tennessee time to the minute. Sgt. Middleton, whose daughter, Jazmine, turned 9 on Sunday, said she will keep two watches on her wrist. One will show local time and the other Tennessee time, she said. "It will keep me closer to home," she said.

Although just hours in Kuwait, Sgt. Kay, 42, said he already is thinking about the two-week leave he and the other soldiers will get at the deployment’s halfway point. He said he can’t decide among meeting his family in Greece for a sightseeing visit there, taking a Caribbean cruise with them, or relaxing at his Red Bank home. "I’m not thinking about all this," he said while pointing at the Kuwaiti desert. "I am thinking about when I get to go back."

The final flight of 278th soldiers should leave Mississippi today and arrive in Kuwait on Wednesday. Meanwhile, soldiers here already are taking 24 hours to shake off the effects of jet lag.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

Photo by Capt. Alan Mingledorff A group from the 278th Regimental Combat Team gathers at its base camp in Kuwait for a brief ing on the camp’s rules.

Photo by Capt. Alan Mingledorff Members of the 278th Regimental Combat Team make phone calls from their base camp in Kuwait.

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