Drifter has LEFT IRAQ

All,

After three days of cooling our jets, living 60 Marines to a giant tent, eating too much, and getting in a little PT, we FINALLY lifted early this morning via C-130 to Kuwait.

We are now in Kuwait, and will shortly begin the next step of what we Marines call the Seabag Drag, and start staging to leave here.

I will post MUCH more once I get back there to Lejeune, but for now, all is well and the REALLY hard part is over. We are inbound.

Drifter 5

Drifter has left Ramadi

Howdy from TQ, y'all.

Ramadi, that garden spot of the al-Anbar province, became a memory only for us last night when we lifted out on two CH-46 helicopters at about 2200 local time, and landed in TQ about 20 minutes later. We were supposed to have lifted on the 10th, but poor visibility shut down all flights into or out of TQ, so we had to call the new team and have them bring us back to our old house. Slightly anticlimactic, but we were worried about being delayed again last night, which would have put us on a ground convoy early this morning. Nothing against ground convoys, but definitely NOT the last thing you want to do prior to leaving Iraq. They could end up being the last thing you do period, so we were happy that the helos were flying last night.

I will write up a good post today to put up later, but just wanted to let you all know that we all safely made it here, and we are in the glidepath home. Home home home. Just like the sound of it.

More to come, and some pictures too, insh'allah.