Kuwait International Airport. View larger image

I'm in Baghdad, delayed days by sandstorms that initially shut down air traffic from Kuwait into Baghdad International Airport and now have pushed back a helo ride to my final destination at a Forward Operating Base in the northern part of the city. The military has altered initial plans - instead of the 2-1 Stryker Cav, I'm now tentatively embedding with the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division operating in and around New Baghdad and Sadr City. This is the first internet I've scored in days, and I assume access will be sparse until I'm settled. Updates to follow, weather permitting.

Travel in and out of theatre is probably the worst aspect of embedding. It's unpleasant, euphemistically speaking.

UPDATE: I see events are humming right along. Wedged knee-deep in the embed travel suck without good internet access, the sum of my first-hand knowledge about anything is getting woken up by a .50 cal somewhere within earshot of Camp Stryker last night. (Though no Mahdi conflict in that area, natch)

Kuwait International Airport. View larger image

Despite embed approval at the unit level, administrative delays in the upstream embed process have pushed my trip back a few days.

I'm going to Baghdad next week to embed with the 2-1 Stryker Cavalry Regiment operating in and around Sadr City. The showdown between the Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi government forces is currently the most important story in Iraq being covered (and miscovered) by the mainstream press, and I'd like to provide an accurate, on-the-ground perspective.

The embed is accredited and covered through Bill Roggio's Public Multimedia, Inc., and the majority of my work will be featured over at The Long War Journal. These trips are expensive and rely on reader donations, so please consider making a tax deductible donation to PMI:

Thank you for your support.

For a primer on the situation in Sadr City and recent events regarding the Mahdi Army, read the following:

Iraqi, US troops press forward against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and Basrah

Iraqi government: "We will continue until we secure Sadr City"

US, Iraqi troops prepare the battlefield in Sadr City

Fighting erupts in Sadr City after Sadr aide killed

Iraqi government moves to sideline Sadrists, Mahdi Army

UPDATE: Typo fixed.

Michael Fumento pens a tribute to MOH recipient Michael Monsoor:

Spring 2006: The Mullab section of Ramadi, Iraq. Graffiti boast that this is "the graveyard of the Americans." Leaving your base camp virtually guarantees a fight, and I'm in one the first day of my embed. When shots ring out, I jump into the street to start snapping pictures. I look back and see a tall Navy SEAL seemingly pointing his 7.62 millimeter MK48 machine gun right at me.

In fact, he was protecting me as well as his teammates. SEALs don't wear identification - even on dress uniforms - and I would never have learned his name if, six months later, he hadn't sacrificed all to save those same teammates.

Folks may recall the story of 1LT Travis Manion, a fallen Marine I wrote about here. More than a year after his tragic yet heroic death, his family has raised over $200,000 for his memorial fund. The money has and will be allocated to help families of fallen servicemen and servicewomen, as well as support a scholarship awarded in Travis' name. I'm unsurprised at the success of the effort; I met the Manion family at the Marine Corps Marathon event, where they gathered friends and family to run in Travis' memory, and their dedication to eulogizing him and raising money for a great cause was truly inspirational.