A day in the life at Baghdad International Airport

I’ve been here a little over two weeks now, which is long enough for me to explain life here. The most eye-opening detail is the rocket and mortar attacks. Although there is no pattern, we average about three attacks a week, and each attack consists of two to four rockets/mortars. (For those who don’t know the difference, rockets are engine propelled and mortars are shot like a gun at an upward angle. They arch and fall back to the ground. Both explode with shrapnel – see shrapnel in photo below).



A few days ago, a rocket hit the building I was in. It was about 20 meters from where I was sitting and knocked about 200 pounds of concrete to the floor. I nearly had to change my underwear – and my ears rang for a while. Thankfully, our building is reinforced with concrete all around. But there was still a big hole right through the ceiling. The rocket exploded on the roof before it punched through, so none of the shrapnel went into the building. No one was hurt – I think it’s because of my wife’s prayers. She’s is one of God’s favorites.

For those who don’t know, I’m a journalist for the Air Force. But my commanding officer won’t let me leave the compound to get any stories – he said he doesn’t want to send any letters to my wife and mother. He lets no one go off base unless mission dictates. That means it’s safe for me – but it makes my work harder. Every boss is different. In Afghanistan, my commander sent me all over the place getting great stories. Of course, with great stories comes great pucker factor (in other words, in Afghanistan there were many close calls).

However, I feel almost shameful being on the base all the time. Almost every day we get casualties, and my chest is always tight when I watch them load up on the aircraft. I haven’t gotten used to it.

It’s out of my hands though. I can’t go out to get stories, so I’m stuck on the Victory Base Complex surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. I write about the missions that happen inside, (see links at bottom for samples of my work). It’s been about 113 degrees outside and rising. It’s also dusty. Bathrooms and showers are all communal – and a long walking distance. The average day is more than 12 hours of work, and then homework, and then sleep. I take Saturday as my one day off because it’s the holy day.

The food is very good. There is a chow hall that serves three hot meals a day here (as opposed to MREs). I pulled guard duty there today. Each person has to take turns guarding the doors once a month.

So that’s my routine: I Take photos and write about what’s going on inside. I do homework. We take rocket fire. We pay our respects to those who fall. We eat well. We endure the heat. We sleep (usually). And then we rise to do it again. May God always be praised. He will deliver us when we die, be it in Iraq or back home.

Some of my work:
Airmen in Baghdad keep convoys off the road
Baghdad Power Pro: We take heat so you don't have to
Photos: Baghdad airport runway cut 3,000 feet