From Mountains to Deserts: A Weekender's War

By R.L. Joey Johnson and Jamie Johnson

We were "Good Ole' Guys and Good Ole' Gals" from the the backwoods of West Virginia. We were normal, everyday people deployed to the Iraq War in 2003 doing our best as National Guard soldiers. These memoirs are my recollections and thoughts that came from the heart. It includes a chapter written by my son, who was an 18-year-old regular Army soldier deployed to Baghdad. He and I provide the story of our meeting in a still vulnerable Baghdad at the time. Come join me on this interesting adventure from the mountains to the deserts!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667895260

Book preview

Preface

I’ve been a clown. I’ve been a musician. I’ve been an athlete. I’ve been a college teacher. I’ve been a hundred other things. However, lately I’ve wondered to myself "Why have I not sat down and written a book about some of the incredible places I’ve been and adventures in my life? ... Why have I not been an author?"

Twenty years ago, I was a soldier. I went to a war. Today, I have decided to recall the memories and thoughts of what I witnessed during that one year in the Middle East.

It will indeed be an interesting adventure. Like a lost, buried artifact, this memoir has its beginnings in the desert sands of a distant land. You are holding on to the treasure map. Thanks for joining me and let’s get going on this remarkable journey.

The year was 2003. Here we go.

Prologue

It was controlled chaos. We had been at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait less than a week and it seemed like each day was an intense adventure. There were new soldiers loading and unloading from the buses. Units were setting up their working areas and equipment. Huge metal warehouses were being pieced together by Kuwaiti contractors. There were big semi-trucks unloading everything from sleeping cots to room-sized generators. Soldiers and Kuwaiti workers were milling around everywhere.

Everything and everybody moved fast and furiously. Picture ants on bread at your family picnic.

In the middle of the madness and noisy warehouse commotion, my small crew was trying to get plywood boards arranged in our small Admin Operations area. My Commander, Colonel Kincaid, walked up to me and introduced me to two young soldiers clad in full battle gear. They were grimy from the sweat and desert sand.

Soldiers: We heard you were the main Admin Sergeant.

Me: (thinking the worst) Yep. That’s me. What’s up guys?

Soldiers: We came from Tallil, Iraq. We need a roll of stamps.

Me: (in disbelief) You guys are looking for stamps?

Soldiers: Yes. We have been flying everywhere trying to find some so our unit can write letters home.

Me: (providing my best Oz-behind-the-curtain answer) Well let’s see. Uh, I think the best place to try is the main postal warehouse that is set up about 300 yards down that way.   

Soldiers: (walking away) Ok. Thanks. See ya.

Off they went…

So let me get this right. Here are two young guys risking their lives jumping on and off planes and helicopters to fly all around Kuwait and southern Iraq on a mission to find a roll of stamps?!?!?

Wow. I stood there in disbelief and thinking to myself that this is crazy. It felt like I was in some sort of surreal movie. But then a thought hit me……

"Hey wait a minute!!! …... We don’t have any stamps either!!!"

Chapter 1  The Buildup

A Quick Background

We were just a bunch of country folks from the hollers and backroads of West Virginia, in many ways the poorest and most meager state in our country, and yet maybe the proudest bunch of folks anyone could ever meet. 

I was not your typical soldier. I was not the normal 18-year-old go-getter ready to take on the world, nor was I the college-educated officer type. Nope. I was just a regular old feller. A somewhat older guy that had already served 22 years in the military dating back to 1981.

So as my story begins around 9-11-01, please keep in mind that I already had a wife who was a First Grade teacher, two grown sons, ten years of experience with the regular Air Force, and was currently serving in the Army National Guard as a full-time Administrative Personnel Sergeant.

There was an old TV show called MASH that had a funny character named Radar played by actor Gary Burghoff. He was the administrative guru that was usually aware of what to do administratively.

I was the true-life version of that role. I was a paperwork hound dog. The Federal Government’s red tape had no effect on me.

Have you ever called a government office only to hear eight levels of menus that take 15 minutes to get through and you still never reach an actual human voice?? Well, like you, I have also, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I see it as a challenge with a favorable ending in sight.             

After being a civilian for a year following my 10-year Air Force gig, I was offered a full-time National Guard position. This meant I would be back on a 20-year Federal Government retirement plan. Thus, it was worth it for me to accept the offer. I only had to serve ten more years and in the comfort of my home state. I’ll take it!! No problem there!!

Or so I thought.

The News 

On the morning of the 9-11 attacks, I was serving with the Headquarters of the 111th Engineer Group in the town of St. Albans, West Virginia. I lived only 10 miles away.

As a full-time soldier, we played basketball in the Armory’s gymnasium two days per week when we weren’t jogging the downtown streets. After what must have been a hundred games, I had averaged a sprained ankle every 6 months or so. But that’s not too bad considering we were a bunch of rough country boys who often played basketball by the rule If no blood, not a foul.

I was in our kitchen area when in walked my Admin Assistant, Specialist Morris, who would later be promoted to Sergeant. She was a hard-working yet smaller, somewhat older female who anxiously said, Did you hear about that plane that hit a tall building in New York?? I replied No, I haven’t, and didn’t think more of it until I walked into the breakroom where the rest of our 11 member staff was standing around the television watching the event. At that moment the second plane hit and within ten minutes nearly all of us were walking around the Armory’s perimeter fences with M-16 machine guns and squawking radios.

Preparation

Over the next few months, the military response was assembled as directed by President Bush. Our small state like everyone else would be represented in that response. And since we were engineers, the Middle East Sands of Time were calling our name….

It seemed to me that a lot of people in our country had many anxieties in anticipation of what was going to happen to our troops. The fear of the unknown was weighing heavily on everyone, soldiers and citizens alike. 

Because my first Air Force assignment in 1982 was a two-year tour at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, I had a very good working knowledge of what that part of the world was like. However, at that time I was only a 21-year-old naïve youngster still in amazement of the world outside of my tiny hometown of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

But to be honest, in the ensuing six-month