By: Edward Lee Pitts (AP) Vehicles in a rear element of the 278th Regimental Combat Team's convoy into Iraq ground to a halt just outside one of the country's most dangerous towns.
"Everybody on your weapons, and look mean and ugly," said Capt. Todd Woodruff, company commander of Service Battery, First Squadron, over the radio. "If you see [a U.S. soldier] smoking, joking or sleeping, tell them to get back on their guns and act like they are going to shoot somebody."
Soldiers with the 278th, a Tennessee-based National Guard unit, began arriving in Iraq from Kuwait this weekend on several convoys spread over six days. The regiment will spend the next year at three military bases in the country's eastern Diyala region near the Iranian border. Camp Caldwell will be the home of the regiment's headquarters.
While 278th mechanics worked on a broken-down convoy vehicle near Baqubah, troops spread out along the road and pointed their weapons at the vast desert in all directions. A white truck with three passengers soon began heading straight toward the stopped convoy. Military officials had called the area around Baqubah a "hot spot'" during pre-convoy meetings.
"We're just sitting ducks out here," said Staff Sgt. Carmen Halcomb, 47, of Crossville, Tenn., as he crouched down to one knee behind his truck.
Soon two Apache helicopters appeared and began circling low overhead. The white truck turned around and began a slow retreat, a relief to the soldiers.
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Col. Dennis Adams, the regimental commander, said the convoys, each lasting about three days, were successful because troops drove only in daylight hours and seemed fierce.
"Our vehicles looked like they were ready to fight," Adams said. "Scary looking, `Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' type stuff."
The convoy with Woodruff's unit had one roadside bomb go off between two vehicles with no injuries. Troops also found another improvised explosive device and disposed of it.
Adams said the homemade armor the soldiers put on their vehicle probably prevented serious injuries for the riders in the truck nearest the homemade bomb.
"Not one single round fired -- you can't beat that trip," said Sgt. Doug Carroll, 40, of Madisonville, Tenn.
But after the convoy's wait of nearly an hour for maintenance outside of Baqubah, the roughly 35 vehicles still had to navigate a stretch of road known for frequent rocket attacks and homemade bombs. Craters from past explosions lined the roadside.
"Live and on location, it is one of the most dangerous roads on the face of the planet," said Sgt. Ernest "Bull" Hunter, 30, a bar bouncer from Cookeville, Tenn. "You thought Chattanooga traffic was bad."
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The nearly 450-mile convoy began about 48 hours earlier in Kuwait under less tense conditions.
Troops with the 278th crammed equipment into the cabs of their trucks. Bullets, weapons, and gas masks shared space with bags of chips, sodas, and empty bottles for nature calls. There would be no bathroom breaks on this journey, and soldiers would have to sleep outside by their vehicles.
Almost as soon as the convoy crossed the border, the 278th soldiers noticed a difference in the living conditions between Kuwait and Iraq.
"One word describes this place -- hopeless," said Hunter as he looked out at the desolation from his gunner's perch.
Open-ended tents with clothes hanging on tent ropes dotted the landscape. Iraqis sold convenience store items out of flimsy thatched huts set dangerously close to the road. Sheep and camel herds appeared out of nowhere under the eye and stick of a single shepherd.
Accident-scarred cars formed long lines at every gas station. Some Iraqis rode on donkeys, but most just walked. Stray dogs darted across roads, and women carried large basins on their heads.
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Frequent highway signs warning the troops to be aware of children in the roads hinted at what would be one of the convoy's biggest challenges: dodging young Iraqis eager to catch a glimpse at the uniformed soldiers riding in the huge vehicles. Barefooted children by the hundreds jumped up and down, waved and gave the thumbs-up sign.
Some children cried out, "Give me food," but most simply motioned their hands to their mouths while pleading eyes stared directly at the nearest soldiers.
"There is a little public relations for you," said Hunter as he tossed out candy.
When the convoy halted, children rushed right up to the doors of the military vehicles, holding up gold-colored bracelets and old Iraqi money with pictures of Saddam Hussein.
"Five dollars. Buy it. Buy it. OK," shouted the children while they banged on the vehicle doors.
As the convoy reached its final leg some Iraqis shouted, "Welcome." Their words were encouraging to soldiers wary about what the next 12 months might bring.
"Home sweet home for a year," said Halcomb as he drove into the gates of Camp Caldwell.
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