Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Keith McCord reporting The weapons. The battles. The POWs. The casualties.
Greg Grant, one of the many "embedded reporters" in Iraq, certainly got an education on war.
After filing dozens reports from the front lines for his hometown news media, Grant returned to his own home earlier this month.
He spent two months in Iraq with the Army's 3rd Infantry, the group which led the initial charge of the ground war.
Greg Grant: "IT'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT'S HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS, BECAUSE IT'S PRIMARILY AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE. YOU'RE EXPERIENCING FEAR, ADRENALINE, EXCITEMENT, ALL AT ONCE AND ALL COMPACTED INTO A VERY SMALL TIMEFRAME."
Home was the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle, no shocks and no air conditioning.
He traveled with three guys who told him when to keep his head down!
And, his wardrobe was a chemical protection suit. Even slept in it.
He brought the flack jacket home-- it weighs about 30 pounds.
"AND IT'S SUPER HEAVY, BECAUSE IT HAS THESE CERAMIC PLATES IN THEM. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. THEY'RE DESIGNED TO STOP ARMOR-PIERCING BULLETS."
Greg said he was amazed at the firepower of the U-S military. The tanks, choppers, computerized equipment, and the training of the soldiers was impressive. A far contrast to the Iraqi military.
His unit encountered a number of POWs. They found them in bunkers in the middle of the desert, at the airport, and on a dirt road, after a tank blasted a small pick-up, with a cannon mounted on the back.
Grant said he actually felt sorry for the Iraq soliders.
Q- "HOW GOOD AN ARMY, HOW GOOD A SOLDIER... WERE THEY WELL TRAINED?"
Grant: "OH NO. ONE OF THE OFFICERS SAID IT WAS LIKE FIGHTING THE BOY SCOUTS. THESE GUYS WERE POORLY LED, POORLY FED, POORLY TRAINED."
But he said, they could hide pretty well. An underground bunker was built to be invisible from the air. Grant said they were *everywhere*.
"YOU GO INSIDE, AND SOME WHERE ENORMOUS. THEY COULD HOLD 50 PEOPLE. BUT THERE WOULD BE A REED MAT ON THE DIRT GROUND AND BLANKET, AND SOME BREAD IN THERE."
Q-"AND AMMO?"
"LOTS OF AMMO, AND WEAPONRY."
Greg said his experience certainly reinforced his opinion that war is ugly: Seeing dead bodies, he got used to. Seeing maimed and injured Iraqi civilians is what still sticks in his mind.
On the other side of the coin, he met some great, dedicated people.
He even ran into a fellow Utahn-- Lt. John Culpepper from Kanab.
He was amazed at the vastness and emptiness of the landscape. But he said, Iraqi sunsets aren't bad!
Q- "WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN?"
"ABSOLUTELY. IT WAS A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE."
Greg Grant said when he left Baghdad, several of the soldiers asked if he'd call their families back home, and tell them they were OK. He did.
