Lori Fullbright Iraq Update - Monday, April 5

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

IRAQ [9:03 a.m.] -- We've had a change of plans.  A massive sand storm is keeping our crew from picking us up, so we're going to have to stay in the holding area one more night.

They are expected to get us Tuesday at about 11 a.m. Iraq time and we'll fly on a mission with them all day before they take us to their base in southern Iraq.  

The weather is now very sandy and dusty and we've even had a few raindrops, which is weird.

Everyone is very nice and we had Pizza Hut pizza for lunch. The only hitch was we had to eat it outside in the sand winds, ha. 

We met a man from Claremore who was thrilled to see Oklahomans and talk about Green Country.  Well, that's it for now.

We will try to update you again before we leave on the Black Hawk.       

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IRAQ [1:45 a.m.] -- Hi everybody.  It's 10:40 a.m. Iraq time (we are 8 hours ahead of you in Oklahoma) We are waiting on our unit that we are going to embed with, to come pick us up, which should be 3 p.m. here.

We got into the Kuwait City airport last night around 10pm and it took us six hours, two shuttles (with lots of waiting) to get to this holding area. They are processing our visas and they assigned us tents to sleep in.

It was wild to pull up at 3 this morning and see our Americans on duty, with guns at the ready, guarding and making sure people are safe. There was camo netting and people working around the clock. That they do these hard jobs would be enough, but to do it in a place so far from home and so rough, really gives you new appreciation for their hard work and grit and desire to serve.

It's very warm with lots of dust and sand filling the skies.

Just the sheer magnitute of getting in supplies and moving people in and out to their destinations is overwhelming and massive.

We are very excited about our first Blackhawk chopper ride today and are anxious to get to the base and start flying missions so we can actually shoot video. We are not allowed to do it at this staging area.

We will take some pictures and post those later.

Thanks for all the great comments and good wishes. We're anxious to begin shooting our stories and bring them back!

We will try to keep you updated when we can, but once we get on the base, we're told communication will be tougher.