Army - The Soldiers' Newspaper

SASR on patrol outside of the Al Asad air base in north-western Iraq looking over the Euphrates River.

An abandoned Iraqi MiG fighter lies outside Al-Asad Airbase in north- western Iraq.

During a stop on patrol an SASR trooper catches up on the latest news from home.
Photos by LS Rachel Irving, Navy newspaper

A painting found on a passageway wall inside one of the HQ buildings at Al-Asad Airbase, western Iraq.

CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy meets local children near the captured Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq during his visit to deployed Australian troops before they return home. The picturesque Euphrates River flows in the background.

Children run to the sight of SASR vehicles passing along the road in a town outside the captured Al-Asad Airbase in north-western Iraq.

Photos by LS Rachel Irving, Navy newspaper

By the rivers of Babylon

A submariner doesn’t normally serve inside Iraq but when Leading Seaman Rachel Irving from Navy News was assigned to report on Op Falconer, she visited the Special Forces Task Group which had captured Al Asad Airbase.
Her experience inside the newly-liberated country left her with huge respect for the SASR soldiers who are down-to-earth men doing extraordinary tasks.

As the rear door of the Hercules opened, the absolute blackness of a North Western Iraqi night filtered in. The nothingness and the beauty of the star-filled sky struck me. We were at Al-Asad airfield and until April 16 when SASR members captured the base, it was home to the largest contingent of Iraqi jet fighters.

My moment of peace was quickly interrupted when I realised there were people outside and if I squinted hard I could definitely make out vehicles. Yes here I was, a Navy person, about to experience 24 hours with the SASR.

It was with trepidation that I stumbled my way towards one of the vehicles and clambered aboard heading for somewhere…

We drove in the black of night, our drivers with NVGs, to a building the regiment were using as their headquarters.

There was no electricity, although a small generator was in use for laptop computers. We were given sleeping bags and shown to our lodgings, which provided us with shelter from the elements if nothing else.

The base, which lies to the west of Baghdad near the Euphrates River, is huge. There are several runways, including two main runways, dotted by abandoned aircraft.

After a welcome brew, I was privileged to be able to travel in a convoy of SASR vehicles as they patrolled through the surrounding areas of the base.

It is an amazing area. The Euphrates is a sparkling blue, contrasting against the stark, rubble-like terrain that surrounds it.

Only a small strip of green with some date trees separates it from its harsh surroundings.

When we stopped for a photo in front of a huge Saddam painting at a vantage point over the Euphrates, locals came to talk to us. Most animated of course were the children, giving us smiles, thumbs up and telling us “Saddam bad man”.

In the town known as Little Baghdadi, people were more tentative about accepting these new faces.

Women in full traditional dress shied away from the vehicles when they spotted my camera, while children as ever, were curious and full of innocent smiles.

Local men huddled in small groups staring and it was hard to know what they were thinking, but one would guess they weren’t all warm thoughts.

We came back to the airfield through desert terrain, the chain of vehicles made an impressive sight.

Scattered throughout the desert fields are about 60 abandoned MiG fighters, including some MiG25 Foxbats, the fastest combat aircraft in the world today.

It is a surreal sight, driving through such a flat landscape to be met by camouflage webbing hiding fighter aircraft. It almost seems funny.

There are a series of bunkers throughout the airfield, giving a real feeling of planned ‘defensiveness’. The bunkers are reinforced concrete and inside are operations and planning rooms, storerooms, bathrooms and living areas.

It was exciting to be able to walk freely into these places, once such a deep sanctuary of the Saddam regime.

There is an exceptional feeling one gets when standing in the dark of something that was once such a solid part of the Iraqi regime and to be surrounded by Australians.

There is a hospital and some of the troops told me that when they went in there, it appeared that the occupiers had fled in a hurry.

There were trays of blood and bloodied bandages left behind, a sign that there had been no time to clean up.

In the officer’s quarters, there were full uniforms still hanging in their wardrobes, ready to be donned. The officers, of course, were long gone.

We went to some of the perimeters of the base and saw where the SASR shelled key areas. It is hard to describe the sheer size of this place.

You look all the way to the horizon as far as the eye can see in all directions, and yet are still looking at the base. Amazing.

Smoke on the horizon signalled the beginning of the Americans destroying Iraqi stores.

Afterwards, we met some of the 4RAR commandos who are now also stationed at Al Asad and travelled to their lookout points.

In the building they are using for their headquarters, Iraqis have painted murals on the walls of Saddam and of figher jets and symbols of the regime. You can’t help but admire their handiwork even though the message in each of the paintings is so clearly pro-Saddam.

By the time we returned, night had fallen and that all-too-familiar blackness enveloped us. As we waited for our C130 Hercules to collect us, I tried to sort the day through in my mind.

The entire 24 hours seemed surreal. I suppose, because of the high level of secrecy surrounding their operations, and the success of books such as Bravo Two Zero, the SASR have become almost mythical heroes. We love to wildly assume what they do and how they do it and stories have become legendary.

This had been a chance to meet these people and talk to them on a personal level and I realised that these guys were not mythical heroes, but ordinary people who perform extraordinary tasks.

They are down-to-earth people, the sort of folk who would gather around your backyard BBQ, but there is an intangible quality about them too.

Walking on to the Hercules, which just 24-hours ago had seemed an exciting adventure in itself, I was almost disappointed that my time with the Special Forces had ended.

I would like to thank them for their enormous generosity with their time and patience. Some of them left the base that day to await their return to Australia and I am sure the last thing they wanted to do was ferry a bunch of visitors around but they did it graciously.

They have given me an insight into their existence and for that I say thank you.