My Tennessee Army National Guard company, the 1174th Transportation Co. was placed on active duty and deployed to Kuwait in April 2003, just after the fall of Baghdad. The first several days in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait there few missions and most of the missions were to Camp Cedar I in Southern Kuwait.
The afternoon of May 4, 2003, the company received orders for a 48 vehicle convoy to supply fuel to combat units in Baghdad. Our destination was a railroad station on the west side of Baghdad and was expected to take 16 hours to arrive, the mission was expected to last three days. With my job being in dispatch and communications, I normally did not go on fuel missions, however, I was selected to drive the lead vehicle, a M998 Humvee and provide front security. At the time, the early convoys did not have gun truck protection (no mounted weapons) and our trucks were never equiped with extra armor during the entire deployment. The large convoy departed Camp Arifjan, Kuwait during the early morning hours fo May 5, 2003. The drive through Kuwait was quiet. However, as soon as we departed Kuwait, the scenery was much changed. Just across the border was the Shi'a town of Safwaan. Iraqi civilians manned the roadside and often tried to stop the trucks by running in the middle of the road. This would be the scene throughout the mission to Baghdad and return. Anytime we stopped, Iraqi civilians were appear demanding food and water.
We proceeded to Camp Cedar I in Southern Iraq. We refueled and awaited detailed directions for our destination. At the time, I carried the Garmin GPS 12 and programmed the coordinates into the GPS. That night, I stayed up most of the night on guard duty. Before dawn on May 6, 2003, the convoy departed Camp Cedar I and took the dirt road towards Baghdad. The road called MSR Tampa, the dirt part, was nicknamed the washboard. Many back injuries were the result of that dirt road. The company arrived at Camp Scania, 90 miles south of Baghdad, we refueled at the location and received information of possible sniper locations. In the afternoon, we arrived in Baghdad, civilian traffic was all around us. Some civilian drivers attempted to get mixed into the convoy. The display of weapons made the drivers detour and stay away from us. As we approached Garma, I told the 1st SGT what my Garmin was telling me. Being in the front humvee, we scouted ahead and found the base using the GPS. We went back towards the convoy, but prior we stopped at an Iraqi store and purchased enough cold Pepxi's for the entire company. We went to the off ramp and radioed for the convoy to come meet us. After the radio conversation, a civilian car raced up and parked in front of us. Three civilians existed the car, one being female. All were yelling at us. We yelled back in Arabic to stop and go away, our orders were being ignored. At that time, I chambered a round in my M-16 assualt rifle and pointed my weapon at the civilians. Finally, they got our message and departed the location. The convoy met us and we drove onto the camp.
It turned out that another company was awaiting to unload fuel and we would have to wait our turn. Our food was running short and a 5-ton truck was dispatched to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) to obtain food. The supply truck was harrassed by Iraqi civilians and weapons had to be diplayed to keep the civilians away. The truck returned with food in the form of MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). As the sun went down the city erupted in firefights. Most of the night, we heard explosions and watched tracers from gun fire. I finally was able to sleep all night and strectched out in the humvee.
May 7, 2003, we stayed all day and part of our fuel was unloaded. Slept in the humvee again that night, but the night turned cold and windy. The sounds of explosions and gunfire was still heard. May 8, again, we stayed at Garma all day. The night was cold and windy again. This time, my bed was the hood of a humvee.
May 9, 2003, we unloaded the rest of our fuel and received orders to return to Kuwait. But prior to our departure an insurgent stronghold was located within sight of our position. Army combat units surrounded the buldings and the US Air Force made bluff bomb runs and forced the insurgents to surrender. The tensions were very high and we departed in a high state of alertness and had Military Police escort for a few miles. We drove south towards the border of Kuwait. After dark and near a bridge, front elements of the convoy witness and exchange of gunfire from US Marines and Iraqi insurgents. After the firing ceased, we were allowed to cross the bridge.
Our convoy stopped for the night after entering Kuwait and later in the morning, traveled to Camp Arifjan. This completed the longest wartime fuel mission of the 1174th Transportation Company of over 1,000 miles.
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