ll Marine Expeditionary Force

As the sun sets, a collection of seven-ton trucks, Humvees, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles from Truck Company, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group (Forward) sit inside the Truck Company vehicle lot aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 11, 2009, moments before the unit launches a combat logistics convoy into the Al Anbar province. In an attempt to cut down on traffic and minimize interference with the Iraqi population’s daily lives, Multi-National Force-West runs most of its convoys at night.

Iraq’s Midnight Express
ll Marine Expeditionary Force
AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq
Corporal Sean Northcutt is a terrible singer.
Sitting behind the wheel of a 7-ton truck bouncing down the highways, roads and dirt paths of Iraq’s Al Anbar province, the 23-year-old Marine belts out renditions of country and western songs that would make a dog howl in agony.
However off-key, stilted and painful those songs may be to those sitting in the cab beside him, Northcutt’s raw tunes have one benefit – they keep him awake and alive. As a motor transport operator with Truck Company, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group (Forward), his singing is a defensive mechanism that allows him to cope with the dangers of driving long distances over Iraqi roadways in the dead of night.
Since Truck Company’s arrival in January, their fleet of Humvees, 7-ton trucks, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles have logged thousands of miles ferrying supplies and personnel throughout the Multi-National Force – West area of operations under the cover of darkness.
“We run all of our convoys at night,” said Warrant Officer Ceylon Williams, platoon commander for Truck Company’s first platoon. “This way we have less impact on the Iraqi people’s daily routine.”
In years past, coalition military convoys were a dominant feature on Iraq’s roadways. Cpl. William Coash, a II MHG (Fwd) motor transport operator, recalls that during his first tour to Iraq, when the level of violence in Iraq was at its peak, all local traffic had to pull off to the side of the road and the drivers and passengers had to exit their vehicles as coalition forces passed. This demonstration of lack of hostile intent has gone by the wayside as insurgent activity and attacks have dropped to an all-time low and peace has begun to settle over Iraq.

“Now we share the roadways with the locals,” added Coash, “because the situation has changed, we conduct ourselves a lot differently.”

Chief among these changes was essentially giving Iraqi roads back to the Iraqis, but this change does not come without danger to the Marines of Truck Company.
That is where Northcutt’s singing comes in. It’s a personal safeguard he has created that helps him combat the boredom inherent with driving long distances at night past seemingly unchanging terrain. Although the threat of insurgent activity, albeit significantly reduced, still looms in Iraq, it is complacency that most threatens Northcutt and his fellow motor transport operators.

“It’s sometimes hard to stay awake,” Northcutt commented as he weaved through the tight streets of Hit, a town in the Al Anbar province with an estimated population of 150,000. “You do what you have to do to stay alert.”

Sitting in the sometimes-stifling truck cabs wearing 40 pounds of body armor and equipment, without a radio to listen to and scenery less than scenic, the drivers pass the miles chatting with their vehicle commanders or gunners, singing to themselves, and chugging energy drinks and water.

“That’s where another unit’s 18-wheeler rolled over a few weeks ago,” said Northcutt, pointing out a small roadside depression along Route Bronze, a main supply route linking the far-flung coalition outposts scattered throughout the Al Anbar province. “Other than one improvised explosive device attack a month ago that didn’t hurt anybody, we’ve been lucky and nothing’s happened to us on these runs.”

Luck has far less to do with it than the vigilance and training of the Truck Company Marines, whose exhaustive pre-mission briefs and roadway caution have kept them safe. During the convoys, which can stretch up to eight hours depending on road conditions and traffic, the platoon’s radios are abuzz with frequent radio checks, updates on driving situations, possible threats, and the location of checkpoints and local drivers and pedestrians.
One of the greatest dangers to the drivers is the presence of children. Hearing the trucks thunder down the road toward their villages, children as young as eight or nine will flock to the roadside regardless of the lateness of the hour to wave at the passing trucks and gesture for snacks, water, or their most sought-after commodity – ink pens. In the past, some of the more daring youngsters, knowing where the vehicles must slow to navigate tight corners or roadway hazards, would hide in the shadows and dart toward the moving vehicles to try to snag a bottle of water or Meals Ready-to-Eat the trucks normally carried in racks lining the side of their vehicles. To combat this dangerous practice, the motor transport Marines have removed the temptation and begun to carry their food and water in racks higher in the vehicles and thus out of reach of prying hands.
Despite this precaution, and the slower transit of populated areas, Northcutt and his fellow drivers maintain close contact with their gunners, who in their elevated turret positions have a slightly better vantage point to warn against children, or other ne’er-do-wells who try to use the darkness to get in close to the passing trucks and Humvees.
Although operating exclusively at night presents its own problems, Williams and his Marines in 1st Platoon welcome the challenge and the signal it sends to the Iraqi people.

“By operating at night we are giving the roads back to the Iraqis,” Williams added. “It reduces the U.S.’s visible footprint and actually helps both sides by having less traffic and personnel on the roadway at the same time.”

“The convoys keep us busy so the time goes by quick,” said Lance Cpl. Robert Thomas, another II MHG (Fwd) motor transport operator. “It’s a great learning experience and I’m seeing a lot of different things.”

Although, the overnight trips throw a kink in the motor transport Marines’ daily schedules, forcing them to sleep when others are awake and eat breakfast for dinner, few want anything more than to be able to get ‘outside the wire’ and do their jobs. In doing so, Thomas’ view of the Iraqi countryside will be shrouded by darkness and Northcutt will continue to bludgeon country music.