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Dispatches from Iraq - from the war zone with the troops

Feb-15-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

USA TODAY reporter, Kimberly Johnson, is embedded with the 172nd’s 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry regiment. She is reporting experiences in a blog. Her first entry, War is Hell, was posted today.

MOSUL, Iraq – As far as military outposts go, the backdrop for 172nd’s 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry regiment could be a lot worse.

Forward Operating Base Marez is nestled in a picturesque bend in the Tigris River Valley. Slopes of green grass blend into distant bluish hills that trap smudged charcoal clouds trying to push through. The rainy season brings wet weather almost daily – from downpours to bone-chilling mist. No matter the moisture level, the effect seems the same. Tire and boot treads pulling away from the thick layer of sticky mud create sharp noisy lick marks, stiff as peaks on any prized meringue pie.

Maj. Pat Mangin, the battalion’s executive officer, sat me down in his spacious conference room, wall papered with larger than life regional maps that detailed every road -- and what looked to me to also include every foot trail and sidewalk -- in the unit’s entire almost 500 square-mile area of reach. He likened the size of the AO, or area of operations, to that of San Antonio, its 450,000 population to that of Charlotte, N.C. (Actually, Charlotte is closer to 540,000, but his point is well taken.) [...]


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