2d Battalion of the 503d on the way to Iraq
�Nobody really ate them,� remembered Spc. Christopher
Holbrook, Chosen Co., 2-503rd Inf (Abn), �but we were stuffing snacks into
our DCU�s to take with us.�
After the aircraft took off, the paratroopers had ample
time to prepare for what lay ahead.
�The mood in the plane was really serious. It looked
like everybody had their head in the game,� Allen said. �I was
concentrating on what I was supposed to do once I got on the ground.�
�I was more worried about how long it would take to get
there and how long I was going to be sitting there in anticipation,�
recalled Pfc. David Deaconson, Chosen Co., 2-503rd Inf (Abn).
�Regardless of how long you are on the plane, it gives
you a lot of time to think about what your commander has told you, about
what conditions to expect. It sounded like a pretty friendly drop zone,
but there was speculation that there was going to be resistance. And that
little quip alone got people thinking they were going to be dropped into
Normandy with tracers flying.�
The time for the paratroopers to make their leap into
war came quickly. About 30 minutes from the drop zone, the white lights
that had been illuminating the cabin were cut off and replaced by red
ones, signaling �show time� was close at hand.
�I wasn�t nervous until they started going through the
jump commands about 20 minutes before the jump,� Allen said. �When they
turned the white lights off and put those red ones on, it was a rush.�
�Each little event after the red lights came on made
your heart beat a little bit faster, regardless of what you do or don�t
know,� Deaconson said. �By the time we stood up to wait for the green
light, my stomach was doing somersaults. I thought for a second I might
throw up and had to put my head on the parachute of the guy in front of me
to get my bearings.�
�We stood up and our rucksacks were heavy as hell, so
we were leaning on everything and trying not to stand up straight because
it was horrendous,� Holbrook said.
The Air Force loadmasters then opened the doors of the
aircraft. Wind, dust and anticipation tore through the cabin. The
paratroopers hooked up their static lines and did their final checks.
Because they were in hostile air and because the drop zone was nestled in
a valley, the giant C-17�s had to go into an intense, steep dive from
30,000 feet to 600 feet.
�We were already standing and hooked up when they went
into this crazy dive,� Allen said. �When they started to pull out of it, I
couldn�t stand up with all the weight I had on. All I wanted to do was get
out of the bird.�
The Air Force had a narrow window of time to get the
paratroopers into the air, so after pulling out of the dive, the red light
by the open door was quickly replaced by a green one and paratroopers
started pouring out into the night sky.
�Finally the green light goes on and everybody is
screaming to get out the door because nobody wants to get left behind,�
explained Holbrook. �So it was a horrible exit. I pretty much fell out of
the door.�
�That is when all fear left me and I just wanted to get
out of the plane,� Deaconson said. �You get a one-track mind once you see
that green light. It�s like being at a basketball game with everybody
screaming, except everybody is cheering for you to get out of the door.�
Sixty seconds later, the Globemasters, empty of their
cargo, were climbing out of the valley and the Iraqi army had a thousand
more American Soldiers to deal with.
It didn�t take the troopers long to fall the few
hundred feet to the ground below.
�When I first hit, it wasn�t a normal landing at all
because it was so muddy,� recalled Deaconson. �We expected mud but we
didn�t expect it to be as deep as it was. A lot of people got stuck waist
deep when they hit and didn�t get to do a proper parachute landing fall.�
The landing zone was dark and quiet as the Soldiers
maintained noise discipline and collected their wits.
�It was almost dead quiet once you hit the ground, you
couldn�t hear a thing,� Deaconson said. �It was good, but eerie in a way.
It gave you time to get your bearings. I felt drained just from stressing
out so much on the plane.�
The Soldiers donned their night vision goggles and
looked for their Phoenix beacon, a flashing beacon used for guidance
visible through the night vision goggles. They then started trudging
through the mud trying to locate their units and assembly areas.
The mud. They all talk about the mud.
�It was the type of mud where you keep getting taller
as you walk,� joked Holbrook. �They had us digging with our entrenching
tools and you couldn�t do it because every time you took a scoop, it would
stick to your shovel so you would have to scrape it off. It was a horribly
laborious process.�
�It took us all night to move maybe eight kilometers,�
Allen said.
�We were scattered everywhere. They told us the flight
strip was going to be this big dark thing through your night vision
goggles. We jumped into plowed farm country and there were dark strips of
land everywhere! We would walk to one dark strip and step on it, say �dang
that�s not it�, and walk to another dark strip. The mud was so bad, my
team leader and I were pulling each other in and out of it. He lost a boot
in it and ended up walking half of the way barefoot.
�It was cold and wet. My weapon was a big chunk of mud.
The barrel was clogged and I couldn�t get to the trigger. It was all over
my uniform, my skin and my hair. Everything was mud. I spent the rest of
the night pulling people out of it. It was crazy.�
Muslim prayers echoed through the valley as the day
broke and the Soldiers of the 173rd got their first look at the
surroundings.
�When light came and I saw the country, it was nothing
like I thought Iraq was going to be; it was beautiful,� Allen said.
�All you see on T.V. is the dry desolate forsaken
places with traffic everywhere,� Deaconson said. �When day broke,
everything was green, it was cold, and there were mountains everywhere. I
remember feeling like this wasn�t a war zone that we were jumping into.�
As light poured across the land, men wielding AK-47�s
greeted many of the brigade Soldiers.
�Morning comes and the Peshmerga (Kurdish) guys were
not 300 meters away,� Holbrook said. �They were there the whole time and
we didn�t even know it.�
The Kurdish soldiers would prove themselves to be
friendly allies.
�The Peshmerga guys brought us firewood, rice in an old
oil pan, bread and cheese, and some mystery meat,� Holbrook said. �We
didn�t care what it was; we were hungry.�
�I was impressed by their generosity,� Deaconson added.
�They had nothing to give, but what little they did have, they would
always share. I mean, here they are bringing us bags of bread and tea when
we started running low on water and MRE�s.�
The paratroopers of the 173rd made history that day and
for the better part of the next year, they would work hard to help secure,
stabilize and rebuild their area of responsibility.
�Every time I see pictures of it or hear someone
talking about it, I just keep thinking, �what a day!�� exclaimed Allen.
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