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March 11, 2003

At 3 p.m., we were finally directed to get on the buses. I got in the second row and piled up my gear on and around the seat beside me. Sig Christensen of the San Antonio Express News came down the aisle taking down everyone’s name and news organization in notes for the book he was going to write about all of this. I looked around, trying to judge the quality of my company for a clue as to whether we were headed for a forward unit or somewhere in the rear. It was hard to judge. The military flacks weren’t saying. There were some grizzled-looking, well-prepared news veterans from first-rank news organizations on board. There were others in various stages of being overweight, soft and woefully ill-prepared looking. The military had made it clear our level of preparedness was our problem. But this busload wasn’t offering any clues about our berths. Maj. Mike Birmingham stuck his head in the door, read off his list of who was supposed to be on board, and finally told us we were going to 2nd Brigade.

David Bloom of NBC was in the seat ahead of me. He was a pleasant and engaged-looking guy who seemed to have some idea of what was going on, and I said, “So Dave, what do you think? Is this the cool bus or the geek bus?”

“This is definitely the cool bus,” Bloom said. “This bus is going to 2nd Brigade. Whatever action there is, 2nd Brigade will definitely be in it. Trust me.”

The 2nd Brigade of the 3rd ID, nicknamed Spartan, was considered one of the most combat-ready, armor-heavy units in the United States Army, part of the Army’s Rapid Deployment Force. The brigade had 4,000 men and women and 1,300 vehicles, wheeled and tracked. It had two armor battalions, the 1-64, known as Rogue, and the 4-64, called Tusker, and the 3-15 Mechanized Infantry Battalion, called China. It had the 1-9 Field Artillery, known as the Battle Kings, and the 26th Field Support Battalion. The brigade’s motto, “Send Me,” came from Isaiah 6:8. “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

Bloom and I talked a little about our objectives. He had been in Kuwait for several months and had gotten in deep with 2nd Brigade already. No doubt his plans for the “Bloom Mobile,” his seat mounted on the outside of an M88 tank-recovery vehicle with a camera pointed at it, were already well underway, but he didn’t mention that. Later on our bus ride out to the desert camps, I overheard him on his cell phone, coordinating with an NBC chase team in private SUVs loaded up with their electronics and satellite uplink equipment, telling them where our bus was so they could fall in line behind us.

We talked about our families, and he showed me a photo of his wife and young daughters. I showed him pictures of my own wife and children.

Later, the guy in the seat behind me tapped me on the shoulder.

“You’re from the Boston Herald?” he said. It was Michael Kelly of the Atlantic Monthly. At 46, he already had a exemplary career of war correspondence and biting political and social commentary behind him. He had edited a couple of prominent national magazines and had a column at the Washington Post, but was an incredibly nice and unassuming guy despite his impressive resume.

As the hazy, brown Kuwaiti dusk fell and the desert alongside the highway faded to nothingness, Kelly told me that he had spent time with the 3rd ID back in Georgia, and now wanted to follow them into Iraq, covering the bigger picture of the commanders waging war. We didn’t get into it at the time, but he was a big fan of this project, sharing my own views on the need, sooner or later, to remove Saddam Hussein. I told Kelly that all I wanted to do was document the experience of regular grunts going into war. I told him I was looking forward to his book so I could find out what the heck had been going on.

Next:

March 12, 2003

March 13, 2003

March 14, 2003 March 15, 2003

Topics: Iraq

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:02 am on Sunday, March 11, 2007

8 Responses to “March 11, 2003”

1. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 11:39 am

   Such memories…..those moments of peace before the storm always seem to stay with you, don’t they?

   Thanks for sharing.

2. saltydog Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

   From the Iliad, through Henry V and beyond, the moment before the battle doesn’t change.

   Jules, I hope you are eventually going to write your own book. I’ll be first in line and will beg a signed copy.

3. Sierra Faith Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

   Before the Maelstrom

   Jules Crittenden takes us back in time when two reporters were still with us, and when we were about to take down a parasite.

4. bdfaith Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

   “To those who didn’t make it back.” Gone but not forgotten.

5. Bill's Bites Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 3:17 pm

   March 11, 2003

   March 11, 2003 Jules Crittenden (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin) At 3 p.m., we were finally directed to get on the buses. I got in the second row and piled up my gear on and around the seat beside me. Sig

6. Old War Dogs Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

   Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.11

   Some Bill’s Bites posts, some things I excerpted and linked but I’m sending you to the original post, some things too short to excerpt and too good to not mention. Please feel free to use this post for comments and

7. Thinking Right » Blog Archive » Crittenden Takes Us Back To The Calm Before The Storm Says:
   March 11th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

   […] read the whole thing. Filed under: GWOT, Media, Iraq — Jim @ 3:02 pm […]

8. Jules Crittenden » March 31, 2003 Says:
   February 5th, 2008 at 8:19 am

   […] March 11, 2003  […]

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