September 12, 2003
Minor Combat
Heh P: Good news and bad news. First the good news: The 1AD PAO has set me up with 2/3 FA, an artillery unit from Germany based in one of Uday Hussein’s palaces-or what is left of it. It sounds like something right out of “Gone with the Wind"-plus, it's sitting in the hottest sector in Baghdad, so I think we'll get what we need. Of course, the fact that is has a pool doesn't hurt either.
The bad news:
F. and I got caught up in a firefight down by the Baghdad Hotel. To make a long story short, it was pretty hairy. Wrong place, wrong time. The firefight was pretty intense and we were out in the open when it started. The Dyncorp contractors that guard the Baghdad Hotel and the locals IPs were enagaging-without any discrimination-a group of car thieves. When it was over, we walked to the blast barrier of the Baghdad Hotel and were promptly detained and searched by the guards along with two other cameramen. Then, things turned ugly when they tried to take my camera. I was hit with a rifle butt and tackled by two guards. Then, just as quick as it happened, we were released. Not pretty--as we walked away, a 1 AD soldier commented with a grin and a friendly pat on the back, "We call this minor combat".
