Baghdad Flight Aborted

11 Apr 07
Found out the rockets yesterday were in response to a British show of force operation downtown. It sounded like well over 30 rockets but there was outgoing mixed in (we aren’t accustomed to hearing much of that).

Tried to head up to Baghdad today. Got two rocket attacks while I was at the terminal. I had just walked out of the tent when the first round exploded. Ran back inside, got my gear on as a second round hit. The second round sounded like it was next door…very loud. SciFi was back at the camp and said it sounded like close to them too. Round must have landed somewhere between the two compounds. He said the British sent a patrol down our camp road looking for the round. That’s the first time they’ve done that since I’ve been here. The surprising thing was the amount of return fire the British levied. They fired the 105mm howitzers for several minutes after the rockets.

Eventually the plane showed but broke on the ground. They got it fixed enough to limp back to Qatar so will reengage on Baghdad.

Hellacious storm yesterday. Blew our two 500 gal tanks off their tower. No water in the compound…again! Have to take bottled water showers. Winds blew up a dust storm today. The red dust hung thick in the air. All day long people kept saying it looked like Mars.