In Iraq and Ready to Go

Here is Bob's follow-up to the report from Kuwait...

We decided to stay awake all night in the hope that we would be able to catch a C-130 early the next morning--Mission Accomplished on that. We arrived at BIAP around 8 or 9am Iraq time. We were told that we should go to Camp Stryker (at BIAP), and from there start making contacts with the wonderful people at Media Embed, MNF-Baghdad, CPIC (Combined Press Information Center) and other parts of the military who have made this trip possible.

We finally made contact with the Captain at CPIC, where we are to get accredited. We once again decided to stay awake, under the hope that we could catch a BlackHawk helicopter from Camp Liberty (where we were brought from BIAP) to the International Zone. Sure enough, later in the day we were able to get on a helicopter with the soldiers. What an experience to fly over Baghdad in broad daylight! You could see some damage from the bombings, but mostly what we saw was a very large, bustling city.

By the way, the heat today 114 degrees. On the helicopter... well, another reporter here described it as having a hair dryer blowing hot air on your whole body with no way to turn it off. Definitely hot. Hopefully on our next helicopter trip we will be able to take pictures.

We are now at the CPIC. Tomorrow we will be accredited. We are eating and we will get some sleep here shortly.

Next stop tomorrow is to meet Grant Sattler with GRD, North Dakota National Guard, Civil Affairs and Engineering. With them, we will be covering progress in Baghdad (what we should be hearing on all the nightly news).

Think about all of America hearing about these mostly untold stories! We can alter the conversation in America... all of us together. This is not about Bob Calvert or Jim Martin. This is about all of us!!!!

Until later...

Blessings,

Bob Calvert
Host, Talking with Heroes

P.S. Be sure to listen to the incredible stories from some of the top leaders of Soldiers' Angels, as they share stories about supporting our troops and their families this coming Sunday night at 5pm PST. Go to Stardust Radio Network, click on "Talking with Heroes," and enjoy. Thank you to Holly Aho for hosting this talk show.