In mid- October 2007 all the more than 500 soldiers of the 3rd battalion 297th Infantry were back home in Alaska after the successful completion of their 12 month security mission in Northern Kuwait and Southern Iraq. Their return home brought to an end the largest single unit deployment of Alaska Army National Guardsmen [...]
My departure from Kuwait began on the morning of May 30th when I was picked up at Camp Virginia by the 3/297 battalion public affairs staff, Captain Malcolm Brown and SSG Mac Metcalfe, for the ride to Camp Arifjan. They don’t make the trip to Arifjan very often so we ended up taking a [...]
If there was a Memorial Day ceremony at Camp Virginia, I didn’t hear about it or see it. The holiday was like any other day here. For the Alaskans of Delta and Bravo Companies that meant another day of escort and security duty. The early morning started out like most [...]
A change of command ceremony is one with a long tradition in the military dating back to the Napoleonic era. It is the formal transfer of authority for a large military unit, like a battalion or division, from one commander to another. Lt. Colonel Dave Osborn formally assumed command of the 3/297 on [...]
All the water at Camp Virginia, like everything else needed to keep this desert outpost functioning, is delivered by truck. There are two kinds of water here: potable water used in the showers, washing machines, sinks and toilets and bottled water for drinking. The potable water is stored in tanks; bottled water [...]
I had the opportunity to ride along on a perimeter patrol early yesterday evening with soldiers of Bravo Company’s 1st platoon in a patrol of several humvees. One vehicle was commanded by Sgt. John Simmons of New York City with Spc. James Paul of Kwigillingok and Spc. Curtis Dock of Kipnuk as driver and [...]
The sand is the finest I’ve ever seen. It’s light reddish brown in color and easily kicked up into swirling clouds. It’s sent flying by the wind which can blow up without warning and just as quickly diminish; vehicles leave a cloud behind them as they pass by on the gravel roads. [...]
Typical of many remote military bases, Camp Virginia is a mix of tents, metal frame and prefab buildings, supply yards and maintenance sheds spread across several square miles of desert. Military and civilian vehicles of all kinds sit baking in the sun or move slowly along gravel streets named Roanoke or Richmond. The [...]
Wednesday May 16, 2007
I arrived in Kuwait just before seven in the morning after a five hour and 40 min flight from London. Taking off from Heathrow airport at 11pm, a British Airways 777 took me southeast across Europe, out over the Black Sea near Kiev and then across Turkey. At sunrise [...]
As my departure date, Sunday May 13th, approaches, I’ve sorted and re-packed my equipment for at least the 10th time. Squeezed into my 20”X20”X8” wheeled Pelican case are a power transformer/converter to switch 220 current to 110, a small Sony camcorder to supplement and backup my main camera, a satellite phone, 26 videotapes, batteries, [...]
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