Professional racers Clay Millican Erica Enders, Jeremy Mayfield and Phil Burkart are on an 11-day tour visiting the United States military personnel in Iraq and the surrounding territories.

Millican will share his experiences with the readers of CompetitionPlus.com through this blog. 

May16th

Our flight for home does not leave until midnight so this gave us the day to see some of the sights in Kuwait. Phil and I walked from our hotel until we came across a sign that said no walking or taking pictures. Things in Kuwait are pretty normal kind of like home except there are still lots of security check points. One difference from home is no one who is a Kuwaiti citizen has to work if they do not want to. I guess if you are sitting on top of all this oil things are different.

May 15th

Today it is time to get on another C-130 for our flight back to Kuwait. Before we loaded up to fly out we roamed around visiting with troops who were flying to many different places some were headed home and some to other bases.  Flying on the C-130 is kind of like taking a field trip when you were in grammar school. Everyone is piled all together and talking really loud. Our tour had basically came to an end once we arrived in Kuwait we got checked in our rooms and tried to unwind.

May 14th
We were allowed to sleep a little late because of our time of arrival. We got up and going for a meet and greet in the DFAC (dinning facility). While doing our meet and greet the troops surprised Phil with a birthday cake who turned 40 on our trip. After some cake we made one of our toughest stops of the trip. We visited the largest hospital we have in Iraq. It is great to visit with our troops who have been injured but it also hurts you to see these people in any kind of pain. While at the hospital we got another reminder of the good we are doing here.  We saw a baby who was electrocuted by faulty wiring in his parents house. This baby was taken to a local hospital where the parents were told it was nothing that could be done to help this child. The parents then brought this baby to the American hospital where the doctors here saved it's life. Our Country is doing so much could good here it can not be described. Once our day was done we went back to where we were staying and sit and talked with Colonel Corey Carr and Colonel Ken Newlin until about 2 a.m. Our conversation covered everything from how one of the Foreign Nationals tried to trade me a cow for Erica to how Jeremy has learned to speak in some form of foreign language in which we or he does not know exactly what language it is.

May 13th
I woke up at 6am to hear gun fire close by. I found out later that the helicopters will test fire there guns before heading out. We then flew to a base called Olsen that used to be an old casino. This base has about 300 troops and a few of them were from Tennessee. Our second stop was a patrol base base called Woodcock we did a meet an greet with the troops. Then we were off to a base called Paliwoda where we had lunch. We were suppose to leave here at about 2:15 in the afternoon and due to a dust storm we stayed at this base until 2am. The sight of seeing two Black Hawk helicopters land in total darkness brought chill bumps. This was an incredible sight I will never forget. Flying in total darkness to our next stop was awesome. We arrived at Anaconda about 2:30 am this is very busy place at night. This is when things are really busy for our troops. There was constant traffic from jets and helicopters taking off and landing. Anaconda is a very large base it is nick named Mortar rita ville due to the frequent mortars lobbed in by the bad guy's.
 

May 12th

We awoke to find we were sharing a room with stars from the television show The Unit. I recognized Dennis Haysbert from the Allstate commercials and Robert Patrick from the Terminator 2. Jeremy said he had to get up during the night and get some ear plugs because Dennis Haysbert snores really bad. Both of these guy's seemed really nice and were here visiting the troops as well.

We flew to a camp called Caldwell. This base has about 1200 troops. Part of what they do is cutoff supplies coming in to the bad guy's from Iran. This base is an Iraqi base that we share with them. We train some of there soldiers here. It is only 10 miles from here to Iran. Lots of movement here with tanks and other armored vehicles.
 

We then flew to a base called Normandy. We had lunch with the soldiers and a big meet and greet. It is really some good food at these bases. I am told by the soldiers you will either go home bench pressing 300 lbs or weighing 300 lbs. We were shown a large troop mover called a Striker it has a .50 caliper gun on the top of it and seats about 10 people. Jeremy got behind the wheel and we all held on for a wild ride.
 

It was then off to a former Saddam held base called Bushmaster. This was the first place we had flown where there was no where to land inside the base. This meant we landed in a open field with soldiers all around with weapons at the ready. The local people all gathered to watch what was going on. I am not sure if seemed as strange to them to watch someone running behind armed soldiers as it did for me to be the one doing it. We got to see a demonstration of the troops getting a big Howitzer ready to fire. This is a bit like watching the heads coming off a fuel car. Everyone know what each other is doing.
 

The next stop was really cool, it is called Howell. Howell is a passenger train station we now occupy. We did our meet in greet in the covered area where passengers would have boarded the trains. There will be no trains coming here though. Like all the bases it is surround by the concrete T-walls. The guy's here had a lot of fun asking us questions. Heck one of them asked Erica to marry him! She did decline his offer. Although it got a lot of laughs from her and the troops.

Our last stop of the day was a base called Speicher. This place is huge it is the former Iraqi Air Force training base. The Iraqi

Olympic team also trained here. There are now about 15 thousand troops here.

After some more good Army food we did our meet and greet and had a good time hanging out with the soldiers. After this we were taken to use the phones in this office building. I was unable to get Donna on the phone so I was just walking around this place and ran into a big fella who asked who I was and what I was doing. Well when I looked at the patch on his his chest and saw 2 stars I thought my tour in Iraq may be more than 11 days. Turns out this was 2 star Major General Mark Hertling, lucky for me he was a really great guy. I took him an introduced him to the other drivers. After saying good bye the General came back an took us all in to the TOC (Technical Operation Center) the workers there were not use to seeing civilians there since this is where all of Northern Iraq Military Operations were controlled. The General introduced us and all us got to speak to the troops working in this very high tech room. What an experience this was, I would love to tell you more but it was a Classified area.       

May 11th,

We flew from Baghdad to a very small camp called Inchon it has 50 soldiers there. This camp is a old 2 story house that the soldiers are fixing up. There is a flat area on the second story where the soldiers have built a long plywood and sandbagged walled and roof area to make small compartments to sleep in. While this does give some privacy it has to be brutally hot in the summer. Outside they have very tall concrete walls called T-walls and the whole camp can't be more than 2 acres. This is the only place the soldiers can be unless they are on a mission outside the camp .While the living conditions may not be what we are used to at home I did not hear one complaint.
 

I experienced one of the most impressive and moving things I have ever seen while getting suited up in our Armour to leave Inchon. We heard several very stern voices calling out to clear the hallway and we could hear crying. Several soldiers came running in carrying a 1 to 2 year old baby boy who was injured and bleeding from his chest. These soldiers went right to work helping this baby. A few moments later some other soldiers came in with the babies father and an Iraqi General to check on the injured child. I do not know what caused the injuries or what the outcome was. I am certain that with out our forces here that child would have been in serious trouble. I keep thinking about how young these soldiers are, it is just unbelievable, the way the came through carrying that baby and the attention given to it.This is something we should all be proud of.   
 

We were then taken to Meade, at this base we were treated to a little fun, automatic weapons! A Ranger Sniper gave us a quick demonstration of all the weapons including firing an illumination round with a rifle mounted grenade launcher. We got to shoot a M-4 which is what most of the soldiers carry. This was cool it can shoot in a 3 round burst. We also got to shoot a .240 Bravo, this thing rocks its fully automatic.The shell casings fly out of this thing very fast and very hot. Erica, Jeremy and I all got some burns on our fore arms from the hot cases. We are hoping they stay until we get home so we can show them off. Being from New York, Phil surprised me with how well he can shoot a gun. After shooting the guns we got to meet some of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. We were shown some of the remote control bomb vehicles. The team also show us some un detonated bombs and mortars. This is one job you have got to love these guy's know what they are doing. The EOD team were ready to dispose of some of the unexploded items they had found and Jeremy got to push the button. Phil, Erica and I got to watch from the guard tower. Throwing the blower off the car did not compare to this explosion.   This is one job you have got to love these guy's know what they are doing.
 

We then hopped back on the helicopters and flew to Salley this base has about 500 soldiers. We did a meet and greet and tour there camp. We were able to spend a few minutes asking questions and answering a few our self.  From there it was back to the palace to prepare for a short nights sleep. Erica, Jeremy and I were all in one room trying to call home when were heard a very deep and loud boom. This explosion certainly got our attention but none of the soldiers seem to even notice. I guess you learn to know when to take cover and when not too. One of the soldiers told us unless an alarm goes off it is nothing to worry about. Easier said than done. When we heard this boom Phil was setting outside with a friend from home named Wiley. 6000 miles from home an Phil meets up with a guy he went from 1st grade all the way through school. Wiley said it was nothing out of the ordinary for this area to hear the occasional explosion.   

May 10th

All of us were up bright and early for our first Black Hawk helicopter ride. This is a great way to travel but I would not want to do it the ways the guys over here have to do it, with two guys hanging out the side with machine guns. While flying over Baghdad and getting close to our landing site Camp Callahan some flares were shot out of our helicopter. We were later later told these flares go off automatically if they detect any unusual heat signals. They are designed to distract ground to air missiles.  Camp Callahan was a shopping mall that had been destroyed and our troops are repairing it and it is now there base. It is not very big but there is some hi-tech surveillance equipment there for observing the surrounding areas. One of the hot spots right now is Sader City which is very near by. One of jobs for the Guys and Gals at Camp Callahan is to keep a eye on the bad guy's in Sader City. If anything happens there they are being watched.

Our next stop was a place called Taji it is the 2nd largest base in Iraq it has about 20,000 soldiers. This place is huge with lots of activity going on. We were given a demonstration with some big artillery guns. They were not willing to let us actually shot one though. Then we were taken to look at the Apache helicopter. There are way to many buttons and switches for me to think about actually flying one of these things. Our biggest treat on this visit was getting to fly the Apache helicopter simulator. This was very fun it was way better than the X-Box. 

It is truly amazing to realize what these kids over are doing. The news does not tell nearly enough about all the good things that are being done, like making the water drinkable, fixing the sewer system so it is not just dumping raw sewage into the river. These are only a couple of the things that are being done but our country is making things better over here.  

I will write again when I can.

Happy Mothers Day Momma!

May 9th

We flew out of Kuwait early to Iraq on a C-130. I rode in the cargo area with members of 62nd Medical Brigade. When we landed in Baghdad there was a pretty good dust storm going on. I guess in the middle of the desert this is what you get when the wind blows it is like fog.
 
We got to go Camp Victory and were taken on a tour of the base. We were given a ride in a new truck call the MRAP it is a step up from the Humvee it is fully armored and can be pressurized for protection against chemical attacks. We then got to see one of the Army bands practicing and to our surprise it was a blues band. The Army has rock, blues and jazz bands that tour the bases to entertain the troops.
 
We are currently staying in one Saddam Hussein's former palaces it is one of over 50 he had through out the country. Some of the furnishings are really fancy. The room I am staying in I am sharing with about 10 other people. This means the bathroom and shower is really busy. There is a huge lake behind the palace with fish in it Jeremy Mayfield was fishing as soon as we got there.
 
In the evening we went to another bigger palace right across the lake from the palace where we are staying. This is now one of the bigger headquarters for the military. This place is unreal, the colums out front and inside, the chandeliers and just about everything else has Saddam's initials engraved in them. This guy must really have liked himself. It also has a bathroom up stairs with 21 sinks not counting the sinks by the 8 toilets and this was all in one room. 

While here we met General Allen. I would not want his job keeping up with everything going on here.

Tonight is the first time we have heard any kind of fighting, in the distance we heard one large explosion. At night there is constant helicopter traffic. 

Day 2

We started our day at 6:30am after a night of not sleeping. I woke up some time during the night wide awake just in time to hear praying being broadcast through out the city. Our 1st stop was Camp Arifijan, it is a supply base with big trucks everywhere. Kuwait is very involved with this base. We learned that if the buildings there are made of concrete or stone they were built by the Kuwaitis if it is a metal structure the USA built it. We also learned that after hurricane Katrina, Kuwait donated $500 million dollars to the relief fund.
 
Our 2nd stop of the day was Camp Buehring this is a completely self sustaining base, it makes all of its own power with generators. All the food for this base is trucked in.  Camp Buehring can hold up to 36,000 troops it is 8 miles in size and it was very well covered in guards. After meeting some of the officials there we were told they had a treat for us and they did! The motor pool had set up a race track in one of the sandy parking lots. Erica Enders, Phil Burkhart, Jeremy Mayfield and my self were outfitted in hard hats and given the keys to Polaris Rangers. After a few warm up laps that were probably not up to military standards the real race was almost ready to begin.  The race involved having one soldier riding shotgun with each of us and we had to make 2 laps before a mandatory pit stop during which we had to drink a bottle of water. So the race started with Jeremy and I on the front row and Phil and Erica in the next. We did not make it to the first turn before things were way out of hand. The story from this point on has now become Classified Information of the US Military. After the race and our stern talking to about the use of Military equipment we were off to the chow hall. Lunch was really good I had chicken nuggets, some kind of of taco salad, french fries with chili, a piece of cake and ice cream with sweet tea to drink which was almost as good as Donna makes at home. Some things that were different about eating in a huge lunch room not a lot different than my old high School cafeteria was that all these kids had guns that were placed on the floor while eating. This was a quick reminder of the seriousness of what these people are doing here. Camp Buehring is the last stop for the troops before being sent to Iraq. Our next stop was a quick run through the PX the military version of Wal-Mart it carries almost any thing you need with great prices.
 
Our 3rd stop of the day was Camp Virginia, this could be the happiest base in Kuwait the troops that are sent here are on their way home.Our autograph session here was held in a place called the Dusty Room and yes the name is self explanatory. While signing autographs here I met two soldiers from Tennessee. There are about 2000 troops moved in and out of Camp Virginia everyday. There are man made berms of sand and tents as far as you want to look.
 
Our 4th and final stop of the day was an Air Force Base nick named THE ROCK. We were told very little about what goes on here. We did get another fine meal in one of the cleanest lunch rooms I have seen. It was much nicer than the one at the old Munford High School. I mentioned this to some the people stationed there. I was quickly told the Air Force thinks of there people first. We had a autograph session in the recreation hall which was also nice. The rec room had pool tables, ping pong, foosball and bingo.
 
I am now back at the Swiss Hotel about to get ready for a little rest we will fly to Iraq in the morning at 6:30am on a C130. 

I hope all of you are doing well at home. This could be the longest email I have ever written so forgive my run on sentences and not knowing where to start another paragraph. I will try and write again but I am not sure we will have the Internet in Iraq.

Day 1