I'm currently in transit from Patrol Base Olson, Charlie Company 2-505's home in Samarra, to Baghdad -- a two-day trip. Saturday evening, Red Platoon drove myself and Franco, an Italian photographer who works for TIME magazine (who showed up at Olson a few days ago) from Samarra north to Forward Operating Base Brassfield-Mora, where we caught a flight to FOB Warhorse in Baqubah (it was not where we needed to go, but that is a different story). From here, I'll be heading through several different FOBs to finally arrive at LZ Washington in Baghdad -- the beginning of the end of this trip.

It is always with a heavy heart that I leave each unit (and Iraq), though I also look forward to returning home (not to the 10-day journey there, but the arriving part). The cameraderie shared by, and with, people who have taken fire, charged through doors into the unknown, and performed other supremely demanding tasks together is something that cannot be understood by those who do not have such common experiences, and it is always extremely motivational and gratifying for me not only to spend time with people who do have similar experiences and backgrounds to myself, but also to forge new relationships under fire, and to create that common bond with a new group of people.

Though few think of it that way at the time (especially those who have never been here before), when they return home at the end of October from their 15 month *combat* tour, the young men of Charlie Company will come to the (somewhat sad) realization that their friends and family who have not been through such things will have no comprehension of what they have experienced over here. Thus, if they are to discuss and to share such experiences (rather than to simply keep them bottled up), these men will find themselves seeking out the company of those who have also experienced what they have. For me, coming here is one of the few opportunities I have to be around people with whom I share that common bond; for that reason (on top of the belief that there are few jobs more important at this time than to communicate the ground truth from Iraq, and to tell the amazing stories of these soldiers), these missions are all the more valuable to me.

As I was departing PB Olson, Captain Buddy Ferris, Charlie Company commander, presented me with an 82nd Airborne Division combat patch -- the unit designation worn on the right shoulder by soldiers who have spent a month or more in combat with a unit. "You've earned it," he said, "as much as anybody else who's been here 30 days has." It's a gift that I will keep forever.

Though I was not present for some of the most action-packed (such as "Jihad Night," the night of July 7, 2007, when the entire city came alive against the coalition, provoked by messages over all of Samarra's mosque loudpeakers calling them to "jihad" against the coalition) and tragic (such as March 5, when eight soldiers and an interpreter from one squad in Charlie Company's Red Platoon were killed, and several others incapacitated, in a span of minutes) days and nights, I did see a good bit of combat in Samarra, and have seen firsthand -- amidst the IEDs, RPGs, and small arms attacks -- that it is indeed a city that is very much at war.

As I sit here at FOB Warhorse, I am already experiencing a bit of that alienation from the "other army" that those who are doing the real fighting in this war feel when they leave their patrol base sanctuary and get around the rest of the military again. Here, there are people who have never seen this war except as it appears in their copy of Stars and Stripes, or as it is told them by others. There are forty-five inch waistlines in Army ACUs and PT gear; there are people who actually have nothing better to do than to walk around correcting others on their appearance; and there are people who have never once experienced the combined senses of thrill, terror, risk, and purpose that accompany going "outside the wire" day and night for the sole purpose of engaging the enemy. Though it is a poor, judgmental reflection on myself to think this, I cannot help but look down to a degree on these "FOBbits" who are the *other* Army in this war -- the pampered, comfortable, well-fed, relatively safe one -- ESPECIALLY after having spent an entire month with such a combat-weary, battle-hardened, experienced, efficient, and *heroic* group of people as the men of Charlie Company. Much like all combat journalism is not created equal, all combat deployments are likewise not created equal.

My personal antipathy toward those who have effectively sat around in this war, rather than fighting it, is not important, and it will fade in the next few days, as will the bitter half of the bittersweet emotion that overtakes me as I leave such an outstanding unit, as well as a country which provides me with the opportunity to have such experiences as those that I have each and every time that I come here. I am immensely grateful to all of the commanders who have invited and welcomed me onto their bases and into their units, and to all of those soldiers who have accepted me as one of their own while continuing to perform their missions as expertly as ever.

There will be much more to come about Charlie Company -- including one exclusive tale of a level of heroism unimagined and unheardof by most at home -- in the next days and weeks, so please stay tuned in, and continue checking the website for updates.

For now, though, I'm off to continue my journey away from danger and from my newest comrades, and back to "civilization." It is a trip that is always much more difficult for me to make than it probably should be.

Jeff