Soldier gets cool break from Iraq

Franklin native heads back to desert after two weeks at home

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

FRANKLIN -- After a year in war-torn Iraq with the Company B of the 142nd Army National Guard engineers based in Fargo, Franklin native Melanie Landgraff enjoyed two weeks back home recently.

Landgraff, 27, put her regular job as a computer programmer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance in Fargo, on hold a year ago when she received orders to Iraq.

After two and one-half months training in Fort Carson, Colo., Landgraff reached Kuwait and Iraq early last April. Her unit's mission was building roads, buildings and doing electrical and plumbing work.

About a week after Bahlad Air Base was taken by coalition forces and nearby farm fields were secured, her unit arrived at the old base that had no power supply. She went to work building guard shacks and towers.

The unit found lots of unexploded weapons at the air base. A week later, the unit moved an abandoned prison and later to Bagdad International Airport to help rebuild it over a four-month period.

By early May, temperatures hovered around 100 degrees F. Soldiers drank large amounts of water and ate MREs (packaged Meals Ready to Eat) and one hot meal a day. Temperatures reached 140 degrees during the day by August. There was no air conditioning available until September, when the air slowly began to get a little cooler.

Mail was slow at first. Later, support from back home became very valuable.

"Luxuries were things like Kool Aid and care packages from home," Landgraff said.

Soldiers slept in or on top of trucks or on the ground. Landgraff often found it difficult to sleep. She usually fell asleep around 2 a.m. each morning, drenched in sweat.

Her unit's next move was to the crowded neighborhoods of Bagdad. Meanwhile, soldiers remained in full gear with bullet-proof helmets and vests, M-16 rifles, ammunition and canteens.

They stayed busy cleaning and maintaining their weapons and vehicles. Spare time was spent reading books, playing cards and basketball. Later in her tour, she was able to visit parts of Kuwait City wearing civilian clothes.

"We were a creative group that made the best of it," Landgraff said.

She worked in one of Saddam's former palaces with its gold fixtures and marble floors. Landgraff bought some high quality, pure gold and silver jewelry.

Among the things she missed in the desert were running water and drinking milk.

Roadside bombs were among the most feared things she feared most about returning to Iraq. Soldiers breathed a collective sigh of relief as mortar attacks stopped after Saddam was captured in December.

Landgraff said most Iraqis where she worked were educated and rather supportive of the soldiers. Deeper into Bagdad, things were often tougher as people out of work and money got more and more upset.

Despite the hardships, Landgraff is proud of what she and other soldiers have done in Iraq.

"Most of the people we met were very wonderful," Landgraff said. "They were surprised to see women in the military. (Only 10 percent of her 600 soldier battalion were women).

An Iraqi schoolteacher wanted Landgraff to take her husband, who was a soldier, to America so he could have a better life. The woman told Landgraff she was concerned about the safety of American soldiers in her country.

"We were very lucky," Landgraff said. "We were never attacked in the streets of Bagdad."

Landgraff anticipates that U.S. forces will have a presence in Iraq and Afghanistan for a long period of time.

She found the Minnesota winter weather to be a refreshing change from the heat of Iraq. She expects to be back home this April. Among her first priorities will be to take a vacation.