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The Tank Deploys
By John
W. Thomas Smith reports from Kuwait:
Internet is touch-and-go here at this huge tent city in the Kuwaiti desert about 23 miles from the Iraqi border. So this will be quick.Will be flying to Baghdad in a day or so.
It's hot here: Close to 130 degrees in the shade (and believe it or not, humid). Mercifully, it drops down into the 90s at night. The dust and sand, like talcum powder, are also much worse than when I was here in March and April.
Walked past a company sized force of Marines around 5:00 a.m. They were sweating, grunting, some quietly laughing, most just trudging ahead beneath packs, body armor, helmets, and weapons: The fine dust rising up from their formation.
"Where you going, Marines," I asked as they passed by. A few glanced at me. No words. One smiled briefly. They all continued marching toward the airfield in this incomprehensible heat.
A gunnery sergeant standing off to the side near one of the tents, shouted "Get some, Marines!"
Dispatches will follow in the coming days.
Keep checking "The Tank."
I will be.
