Welcomed By a Dust Storm...

We're finally here in Baghdad, and we were welcomed by a dust storm. When we flew in, which was via a C-17 (yay, seats!), the weather was nice. Calls were made and people started freaking out because we were in country so quickly. I've deployed once before and have had to ferret media around in aircraft and I've never been so 'lucky' in getting mil air transport so quickly. We off-loaded and loaded all our crap again and arrived at our tent. We made it to the main chow hall before it closed and were off to sign in. The guys at the S-6 were also surprised at how quickly we got here.
So, we got back to the big ole tent, got settled in somewhat and crashed. Ahhh sleep...I woke to what I thought was rain. It wasn't. The tent was being rocked back and forth and I knew that we were in for a day of gusty winds and blowing sand/dust. It remained like that until late afternoon. Gotta love the Middle East.
The change of authority or COA was today where the 4th Infantry Division handed over control of this area of operations to the 1st Cavalry Division (that's who we work for). The unit we're replacing is working to vacate the media operations center (MOC) and their containerized housing units (CHU--what we live in) so we can move in and get to work by Friday.
From what I'm hearing, I'm going to like working for 1st CAV. The CAV are elitists in a sense...they have their own logic, their own way of doing things, their own mentality...and it's full of tradition. I'm looking forward to seeing how we do.
Today, I had to buy a leg holster for my M9 because that's what I'll be carrying around the base as I conduct my daily business. The PX here is very large and has just about anything we could want or need. My care package requests will probably consist of coffee and little mementos from home.
In the next couple of days, we'll hook up with our replacement unit personnel and get acquainted with what we'll be doing for the next year or so. For now, this blog, prepping our equipment and Soldiers, eating chow, and learning where things are on base is what we'll be doing. Thanks for keeping up...