Arrived in Iraq — Finally
Posted by Matthew on January 22nd, 2008 filed in JanuaryWe’re finally here. Rob and I arrived at Contingency Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit three days ago. It took us a week just to make the trek up from Kuwait. Traveling though Iraq is the same frustrating drill for everyone. Soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, contractors, and journalists like us spend days waiting for a seat aboard a helicopter flying to a destination.
We came to Iraq to do an in-depth look at the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment – the first unit to go to war equipped with a computerized soldier kit known as Land Warrior. It looks like something out of the 1980s blockbuster movie “Aliens” – combat troops wearing tiny computers, voice and text radios and a mini computer screen over one eye. Sounds like a triumphant tale already, but this story has a strange twist to it.
Last year, the Army essentially killed Land Warrior when budget officials cut off the program’s money supply. So what’s it doing here?
The 4-9 had already trained up with Land Warrior, so it decided to take the system along when it deployed to Iraq nine months ago as part of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Since then, 4-9 soldiers – team leader and above – have had to rely on this new technology to help them find the enemy, keep tabs on their soldiers in battle and trust that it won’t fail them when their lives depend on it.
Rob and I came here to find out the truth about Land Warrior, to find out if it has proven its worth in battle or if it’s destined for the next sci-fi thriller on the big screen.
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