To hear Brigadier General Louis W. Weber tell it, we could be on the outskirts of Baghdad in no time. "I've got visions of climbing into a gilded bathtub with the [elite Iraqi] Republican Guards fanning me," the Assistant Division Commander for Support of the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) declared in a morale-boosting visit with troops just a day before President George W. Bush issued his final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein.
By Wednesday night, the President's order to move had not yet come, and that bathtub of Saddam's is still many leagues away. But the troops of the 3ID are ready to go to battle. And as a reporter "embedded" in Division Rear, the logistics arm of the 3ID, I am getting ready as well. It may be our last evening at Camp New York, our staging area in Kuwait. In the dining tent, the troops are reflective and subdued, perhaps mulling over the President's speech to the nation and the world on Mar. 17. But outside, hundreds of water tankers, fuel carriers, and recovery vehicles have started rolling out to join combat brigades in assembly areas waiting for the final command. It's clear that war is very, very close.
The 3ID will be leading the ground attack across the Iraqi desert. Nearly 20,000 strong, it was chosen for the job because it has massive firepower. The division boasts more than 200 Abrams tanks and 267 Bradley armored vehicles backed up by 16 of the latest Apache attack helicopters, and it can move very quickly. At the front of the pack will be the 3-7 Cavalry Squadron. Made up of 1,400 fighters, this is an elite corps of men whose job is to sprint ahead of the main fighting units in four-man Bradleys. The 3-7 is one of the oldest cavalry units in the U.S. Army, with roots going back to the Civil War. Their job is to find and engage the enemy, a role widely considered to be the most dangerous on the battlefield, since this unit paves the way for the other attack brigades. By the time the rest of 3ID crosses the border, the 3-7 Cavalry will be 50 to 70 kilometers ahead. Behind them will follow much of the division's fighting muscle.
What do soldiers (and journalists) do in the days and hours before going to war? Officers and soldiers alike are using the opportunity to prepare and to take advantage of the water supply. Men are shaving their heads; women are washing their hair in showers for the last time and putting it in cornrows. Others are making last-minute runs to the PX to load up on baby wipes -- useful for washing the sand off your face and hands when water is scarce.
It is a time to reflect, even while trying to escape the mounting stress. A few days before the President's ultimatum, Lieutenant Steve Pierce sat in a recreational area provided by the military, playing Trivial Pursuit. "When you have to look forward to chaos, you have to enjoy the peace you have," he told me between games. A captain in the 3ID's communications division was even more serious about what may be just ahead: "Everybody is treating this like a road trip. But all sort of things will go wrong. You can do all the planning you want, but when the enemy makes [its] move, everything changes."
Since coming here, I've met plenty of people who have challenged my stereotype of the military -- testosterone-charged, trigger-happy provincial youths bursting for a chance to invade "Eye-raq." There's Captain Tracy Golden, who dreams of opening her own poetry café in Milwaukee. And Justin Charise, a 25-year-old first lieutenant in charge of a multirocket launching system brigade. He's an avid lacrosse player who espouses the benefits of Bikram yoga.
My thoughts keep going back to General Weber as well. He is confident of a major American victory in the war, but he has no illusions about the tough job that will follow. A veteran of the first Gulf War with extensive experience in the Middle East, he is skeptical about a secular democracy taking root in Iraq anytime soon. "There are some parts of the world where history and culture will not support it," he suggests. "We must be careful not to impose the U.S. or Western point of view on people who have no clear conception of what that's supposed to mean." Clearly there is a lot of work for America ahead.
By Frederik Balfour in Camp New York, Kuwait
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