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Friday, September 23, 2005
Getting ‘em into Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait — The big man’s voice is booming, so all eyes turn toward him.
It’s Joe Reilly, a 6-foot-3, barrel-chested man from Valdosta with a shock of gray-white hair.
Jeremy Redmon/AJC
Joe Reilly is a retired Air Force master sergeant.
He is commanding soldiers, State Department workers, contractors and journalists to step away from their luggage so a dog can sniff it for trouble. A cargo plane is waiting for them in the early morning darkness.
Reilly is the last man many people see before they enter Iraq these days. He helps arrange their flights for Kellogg Brown & Root, a large U.S. military contractor operating all over the war-torn country.
“We want to welcome you to Chrome 28,” he ceremoniously told a recent group of passengers, identifying the call sign for their flight.
Reilly barks out his instructions beside a large, graffiti-scarred wooden table. His desert combat boots scrape through the gray gravel dotted with dozens of cigarette butts, some his. He speaks to his passengers in the same commanding tone, no matter if they are enlisted soldiers or officers, low-rung government workers or high-ranking diplomats. He is trying to keep things running smoothly. No time for pleasantries.
Reilly didn’t start out with this job. He drove trucks for KBR after the U.S. invasion, carrying food and supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad. He swears he won’t do it again.
At first, the Iraqis welcomed the truck drivers, he said. Then some months passed and they started throwing rocks at them, cutting their fuel lines and stealing their gas caps. KBR has had 77 workers killed in Iraq, he said, including seven who were ambushed in a convoy. He went home to Georgia in May of last year.
“I had enough,” said Reilly, 48, a retired Air Force master sergeant, who is married with two grown children.
A buddy lured Reilly back with a new job as an air cargo specialist for KBR. He freely admits he is in the Middle East for the “fantastic” pay, not for any grand ideas of helping Iraqis. He does just about everything as part of his job: draw up passengers lists, pack luggage on pallets and hand out earplugs.
And as far as Iraq is concerned, he doesn’t plan to go back. Ever.
“I promised my family I wouldn’t,” he said. “I’m not going to put that on them and make them worry. I did my time.”
And with that, Reilly goes back to work. He has passengers waiting for the gut-churning flight into Iraq. They want to go where he doesn’t. They haven’t had enough yet.
Election security concerns cut number of leaves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Striker, Iraq — Some soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team won’t be going home on leave as planned.
Two-week leaves scheduled for October were cut back because of heightened security concerns surrounding the Oct. 15 referendum on the new Iraqi constitution, brigade officials said Wednesday.
Normally, every unit permits leaves for up to 12 percent of its total soldier strength, said Command Sgt. Major James Nelson. In October, he said, that number has been reduced to 6 percent.
Some soldiers who planned leaves in October were asked to draw names lottery-style to determine who would stay and who would go. Other soldiers, said Nelson, voluntarily gave up their slots for those who had specific reasons for going home such as childbirths, birthdays and weddings.
Overall, Nelson said the leave reassignments worked out well, although a few soldiers were disappointed. Soldiers who had their leaves canceled were upsetbut declined to comment on the record.
U.S. military officials have expressed concern of intensified insurgent activity as the upcoming referendum nears. A continued wave of violence has killed roughly 300 people in the last week.
