A trip to the Green Zone

Michael Totten is back in Iraq and just getting there was a memorable experience in being a low priority passenger. Once there he had this to say about Baghdad:

...

After having spent several days Baghdad’s Green Zone and Red Zone, I still haven’t heard or seen any explosions. It’s a peculiar war. It is almost a not-war. Last July’s war in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon was hundreds of times more violent and terrifying than this one. Explosions on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border were constant when I was there.

You’d think explosions and gunfire define Iraq if you look at this country from far away on the news. They do not. The media is a total distortion machine. Certain areas are still extremely violent, but the country as a whole is defined by heat, not war, at least in the summer. It is Iraq’s most singular characteristic. I dread going outside because it’s hot, not because I’m afraid I will get hurt.

...

After finally getting to the Green Zone at 2 a.m. he struggles to find a place to stay without a badge. fortunately a couple of contractors come to his rescue.

His story is well worth reading and it reminded me of one of my adventures in Vietnam.

When I first got to Dong Ha I was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division Communication Center. The commander decided that I could help him clean up some left over paperwork that was still hanging around from the siege at Khe Sanh. apparently during the height of the siege it was decided that taking Top Secret documents into the combat base was not prudent so they were kept in Dong Has. they were outdated, but only the officers in Khe Sanh were authorized to destroy them. It is the military so go figure.

Anyway, I was given the documents and top Secret Priority One orders to take the documents to Khe Sanh for destruction. As the cargo plane was about to land the NVA started shelling the runway so the pilot quickly gunned the engines and got us out of there. He then dropped me and the other passengers at some remote fire base in the middle of nowhere. It did not look like a place where the USMC would want their top Secret documents to spend the night so I went up to a radio operator and told him I had Top Secret Priority One orders to make a deliver to Khe Sanh and he needed to call a chopper to get me out of there. Hey, it worked. In 30 minutes or so I was being flown into Khe Sanh as the only passenger on a chopper.

When I got there, I found the communications officers who offered me a cup of coffee while we laughed about my having to bring him documents to destroy. He really thought it was funny when I asked him how to get a ride back to Dong Ha. He pointed to the area where Marines and Green Berets had been waiting several days to get a ride out of there. Being a quick thinker I remembered my success at the remote fire base and thought it was worth a try again. I found the guy with the radio in charge of flight "arrangements" and told him I had Top Secret Priority One Orders and needed to get back to Don Ha. A few minutes later, he shouts at the crowd, "The guy with the Top Secret orders your chopper is coming in." As I am running out to get on board I fell this guy run past me, and he is shouting over the roar, "I'm a Green Beret and I have Top Secret orders too."

I was glad to have him on board as he gave me a tour guides view of the NVA trenches that had been dug during the siege as well as pointing out several pieces of the moonscape surroundings where the B-52's had dropped their loads.