BATTLE POSITION TARAWA (On the Syrian border) — A little after 3:00 a.m., a sand storm rolled in putting us at condition red, which means everything stops.

 

I was supposed to head back to Al Qaim for a little decompression time (shower, sleep, generally retool for the weekend "sweep"), but when we go to "red," they can't launch aircraft. And ground vehicles do not move out here without air support.

 

Was in the combat operations center (COC) earlier, and a report came in about shots fired and tracers spotted from one of the posts out on the perimeter. Inside the COC, I couldn't hear anything but the rattling of the air conditioner, the squawk of the radio, and the lighthearted banter of the Marines.

 

I walked outside and heard nothing but yapping dogs out beyond the wire, and the wind.

 

Walking back toward the COC, I passed by the Marines' makeshift gym: Basically a big tent with all manner of benches and free weights ... and it's the good Olympic stuff. None of that "universal crap" as the Marines say.

 

"Out here, sir, we patrol, hump these streets, and look for bad guys," one corporal told me. "When we're not doing that, we eat, try to sleep, work out and get big."