A look at soldiers’ journey out of Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Pfc. Reid Kelley of Alfa company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in Baghdad, picks up his gear as his unit leaves Iraq on Sept. 24.


A look at soldiers’ journey out of Iraq
By Hamza Hendawi - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Oct 25, 2009 16:09:32 EDT

BAGHDAD — There are just a few days left before Army Capt. Nathan Williams finally gets to go home.

Music fills his company’s small headquarters as his men cheerfully haul out computers into shipping containers, shred documents and write handover notes. Already the men have vacated their trailers and are living in air-conditioned tents almost the size of basketball courts.

As violence in Iraq is sharply down and Iraqi forces are taking more responsibilities, the United States is preparing for the withdrawal of all combat forces by August 2010 and everyone else by 2012. That means in the coming days and months, tens of thousands of soldiers will be making the same journey as Williams and his troops, from Iraq to Kuwait and finally to the U.S. — the long journey home.

Williams’ Alpha company is known by its foreboding nickname “Apocalypse.” Its commemorative T-shirt has a black skull on the back and the ominous words “Straight to Hell!” Yet the company’s track record speaks of a war winding down fast and a diminishing role played by the American military in Iraq.

Two platoons from Williams’ company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment have already left for home at Fort Riley, Kansas. But the official end of the 12-month deployment comes when the battalion’s colors were folded in a brief ceremony held Sept. 22.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/ap_leaving_iraq_102509/



unhappycamper comment: Welcome back to the land of the big PX and round doorknobs!