Traveler

Our last month of life on Adder was spent monitoring the security situation in our area-- things were quiet, and we were ok with that. Most of the Iranian-backed groups called off the attacks and the money flowing from Iran had stopped. Remaining groups- really there was only one- attempted some attacks but without funding or munitions, they were left to make do with that they had in country. In our area it was largely quiet, but north of us around Karbala seemed to be more active. Baghdad was still occasionally eventful, even though we had closed Victory Base on 2 December. I believe we could attribute some of the quietness to the local sheiks who kept a lid on things. All the efforts 2-82 FA did throughout the year working with them paid off.

Our chow hall closed on 20 November, a couple of days before Thanksgiving. We did this to allow the people who worked there (all third country national contractors hired through KBR) to get out and to get their equipment out. We also closed it early to help 'influence' the large US civilian contractor population on Adder to leave. It worked, and in about 20 days we went from a population of 11,000 to around 1000.

The final days resembled Zombieland or a scene from I Am Legend, where there were tons of empty buildings. If you needed something, you just grabbed it out of an empty building, to include vehicles. A base of 11,000 needed the support of around 900 civilian cars and trucks that were not going to be taken back to the states, and were going to be "FEPPed." FEPP stood for Foreign Excess Property Program, which was where we signed over equipment and facilities to the Government of Iraq, and it became a verb. We "FEPPed" a lot of stuff, but with good cause-- It would have cost the government more money to ship it back home or someplace else than to just leave it in place for the Government of Iraq, and most of it wasn't in that good of shape anyway. The fun part about being some of the last folks on Adder was that if you didn't like what you were driving, upgrades were free. By time the last day rolled around, I was driving a pretty spiffy like new 2010 Chevy 2500.

As we got closer to the 18th, the day we planned on leaving, we solidified our plan. The base was signed over to the Iraqis on the 16th with a caveat that they could not come on in force until we left. The Division we were with was flying its last personnel out on the night of the 17th, and the Air Force had a residual force of around 200 they had to keep around until the end. We had to maintain perimeter security of the airfield until they left, which proved a bit problematic when we found out another C-130 full of media would be a part of the final festivities as well. Also complicating our preparation was GEN Austin, who wanted to fly in and talk to the Soldiers doing the final convoy. I had no issue with him-- a) he's a pretty big general will do whatever he wants, and b) his purpose as the Commander of US Forces in Iraq gave him purpose to be there. I think he would have been fine without the media circus, which consisted of about 30 media personalities and crews on the C-130, but as this was a historic moment, it was necessary for them to document the occasion. They could have left Geraldo home, though. Several other generals arrived that night, all thinking they too needed to be a part of this last moment. Some had legitimate purpose, and some didn't. After a couple of hours of pageantry, we finally got all of them loaded up and on the way, except for the C17 carrying the Air Force-- seems they needed an additional hour and a half to take some final pictures with the two Air Force generals they flew in, which delayed our perimeter collapse. I read the Stars and Stripes article the next day touting how these were 'the last airmen in Iraq,' which was a false statement -Airman Holliday, one of our JTACs (Joint Termial Attack Controller- the Air Force guys on the ground who control attack aircraft) who drove out on the last serial was the last Airman in Iraq, not some General who flew out.

Finally they all left, and it was just the final convoy consisting of 129 vehicles and around 500 personnel, all consolidated in the southwest corner of Adder known as the Convoy Support Center (CSC). The mood was jovial, and most were relaxed but focused as they went about their final preparations and checks. Joining us were some embedded media, approximately 15 or so, including some notable personalities such as Greg Jaffe, Martha Radditz, Chris Engels, Jim Alelrod, Rebecca Santana, and Martin Savidge and my good buddy Geraldo (Note: The Geraldo part is sarcasm). Most of them were great; Martha Radditz wrote a book on the Brigade when it was in Sadr City in 2004, Greg Jaffe does a great job of telling the Soldier's story, and Jim Axelrod was good to deal with.

As the checks and interviews went on, the Iraqis went about consolidating their gains. The base was designated to go to the Iraqi Air Force, but this was a big base for the five or six prop planes that currently resided on Adder. There was a small Iraqi Air Force contingent that lived on the base, but it was dwarfed by the size of Adder. This small force wasted no time in sweeping up abandoned vehicles and grabbing furniture, water, fuel, and pretty much anything else that wasn't nailed down. Iraqis in general were very interested in our trash-- I have a good story on this, but I'll save it for another day.



The plan for the ride out was to move in five serials separated by time. We estimated the drive would take 4-5 hours, and we got a great deal of assistance with enablers as the last element left. To give you an idea, we were allocated nine Predator drones for our approximately 200km drive. I went all year starving for Predator coverage, and would sometimes get one for only a couple of hours, but here I was with nine. Our S2, FSO (Fire Support Officer) and ALO (Air Liaison Officer-- an Air Force pilot on the ground who chiefs the JTACs and controls air) days prior all put together a plan for how to manage airspace for attack aviation, surveillance aircraft, and drones. We had over 45 aircraft stacked from 600 feet to 31,000 feet, all watching us drive out. We asked for C2 aircraft (a set of UH60s specially configured with a slew of communications equipment) and got them. They even came with a whole bunch of guys from an unnamed national guard unit who all wanted to be a part of the last operation in Iraq.

We had a lot of help in getting out, and there was no shortage of assets or units offering assistance. The MacKay Logistics Planning Principle #1 did not apply (figure out what you need, then double it because you will get half); we asked for a lot and got everything we ever needed. I think I could have asked for the space shuttle and a company of Jawas and probably would have received them in Direct Support to us.



I rode out in a C2OTM (Command and Control On The Move). It was a specially configured MRAP with secure and unsecure computer networks, secure and unsecure phones, Blue Force Tracker (system allowing us to see who's where and send messages). With this network we could do everything-- phone, email, secure chat, all on the move-- allegedly. It worked great when parked, but I think they need to go back and relook the "on the move" part. In the truck with me was our ALO and another communications Soldier, plus a driver and TC (truck commander). One of our embedded photographers snapped this picture right before we closed the door.



At 0739 on 18 December the last US vehicle of 129 crossed the Iraq/Kuwait border and the code word "Traveler" was called over the net. With that, America's occupation of Iraq was over. We'd like to think we made a difference, I believe we meant well. While the reasoning to go to war was suspect and will be debated for years, we'd like to think we made a difference. In the big picture, US forces overthrew a brutal dictator who killed thousands of his own people, and we gave the Iraqi people a choice in deciding who is their leader. We spent $230 billion in reconstruction projects and infrastructure improvements, and you could say the "Arab Spring" of people demanding accountability from dictatorial governments in the mideast world was a by-product of the US intervention, in that it showed people could speak their mind.

Since I have been home, lots of people have asked "what do you think will happen?" I don't have a crystal ball, but I'll make a prediction. It's time for Iraq to grow into what it will become. Maliki will continue his consolidation of power largely unchecked. There will continue to be some Sunni-Shia violence, some of it spectacular, but I think most Iraqis are tired of large scale sectarian violence. I don't think it will return to 2006 levels of sectarianism, but certainly there will be some. Iraq's next big hurdle will be its next set of elections, and if it can get the oil flowing consistently enough to generate foreign investment and income, I think Iraq has tremendous potential. I think we'll be back there in five years in a training capacity (with other objectives as our proxy war with Iran continues). I don't know enough about northern Iraq to make a prediction. But I'm sure it will be as complicated as possible. I do know whatever evolves, I am certain I won't be a part of it.

Doing the blog has been a good way to keep things in perspective. Thanks for reading, and hope your 2012 will be great.

Ron

Lots of potential with this thing if it works.