11:04 AM EDT on Sunday, May 22, 2005

BY JOEL P. RAWSON
Journal Executive Editor

BAIJI,Iraq -- The entertainment for Friday evening was watching a small forklift carry a huge metal box off the back of a trailer truck.

Journal photo / John Freidah

The 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment of the Rhode Island National Guard packs the last belongings before moving to a new camp in Baiji, Iraq. Specialist Chris Azevedo, 35, of New Bedford, seeks revenge on Specialist Nathan Deitch, 19, of North Kingstown, who toys with the group by spraying water on them during the move. On the right is Specialist Juan Ventura-Reyes, of Connecticut.

The soldiers of the 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment of the Rhode Island National Guard watch with great skepticism as the forklift picked the container up. They saw it teeter -- its back wheels seeming to be light on the ground -- and then successfully lower it into place.

The odds were on the container tipping over the forklift.

The move to a new camp has been pretty much safely completed, although the men are not settled in yet. They have been assigned CHUs, containerized housing units, two men to a unit.

There are two shower buildings nearby and latrines with honest-to-goodness porcelain toilets, some of which work.

The Tactical Operations Center, supply and other offices are being set up in an old Iraqi building.

They expect to be through the wire and operating soon.

On the lookout

The road march from Samarra to Baiji was uneventful but the men were wary of IEDs, roadside bombs, and VBIEDS, car bombers.

Capt. Michael Manning, of North Kingstown, had taken a group to Baiji in the morning and was held up by a bomb. A unit ahead of them spotted a dog eating a second dead dog beside the road. They saw wires coming out of the dead dog and called ordnance people who came and disarmed it. The prospect of having dead dog blown over one is unpleasant.

The car bombers are new to the 173rd. The last vehicle in a convoy is often the one that is hit, the bomber driving up fast on the Humvee and detonating as it hits.

In the last Humvee Friday afternoon were Staff Sgt. Tim Halloran, of Stonington, Conn., Specialist Richard Busa, of Newton, Mass., driver; and Specialist Jason Dean, of Amherst, Mass., gunner.

Halloran told Dean what to do if he saw a car or truck closing fast: "They know better by now. If they don't slow down, fire into the road and walk it right back into them."

You can't stop the car bombers unless you kill them, a game of the quick and the dead.

The air conditioner on their Humvee was broken, the sun heated the steel armor, turning the inside of the vehicle into an oven, roasting them. Nevertheless, they kept the thick armored windows closed. The heat can be endured, the bombs are lethal.

Watch out for the spiders

Their former home, Forward Operating Base Brassfield-Mora, had once been a grain depot. The locals call it the "silo." Many birds and mice live there, feeding on the grain that is still stored in long open bins.

At night when you walked around with your headlamp on, you would see the twin glowing eyes of wild cats. They were feeding on the mice and birds.

Another form of wildlife is the camel spider, a grotesque creature with a scorpion-like tail that can grow to the size of your hand. The men captured a smaller one, tied a length of dental floss around its middle for a leash, and walked it around like a pet.

Another soldier found a tiny field mouse trapped in a box he was throwing away. He released it.

'Here, First Sergeant'

Last Wednesday there was a memorial service at Brassfield-Mora for Sgt. Andrew Jodon, of Wingate, Pa., the 3rd Infantry Division soldier killed by an IED on Main Supply Route Tampa on May 12.

Jodon was 27 and married with two stepdaughters.

Mark Wald, commanding officer of the 3rd Bn. 69th Armor Regiment, spoke and so did Jodon's company commander, Capt. Michael Binetti, from New Jersey.

Journal photo / John Freidah

Staff Sgt. James Leonard, 37, of New Jersey, takes a break after setting up the unit's communications equipment in 110-degree heat.

Manning, Robert Saquet, of Brockton, Mass., and Thomas O'Hare, of New York City, attended the service with five soldiers of the 173rd.

The most moving part of the ceremony was the calling of the roll.

The first sergeant of Jodon's E Company, William Bullock, called a name.

From the ranks an answer came, "Here, First Sergeant."

He called a second name. "Here, First Sergeant."

He called, "Sergeant Jodon."

There was silence.

He called again, "Sergeant Andrew Jodon."

Again silence.

He called a third time, "Sergeant Andrew Ryan Jodon."

Bullock let the silence hang again for a long pause before he called "Order, arms," the command to salute.

Digital Extra: Find more reports and photos from Iraq by Journal executive editor Joel Rawson and staff photographer John Freidah, on assignment with the 173rd Long Range Surveillance Detachment of the Rhode Island National Guard, at:

http://projo.com/extra/2005/iraq/rawson/