“Hairdryer Heat & Distant Gunfire: A Marine’s First Night in Baghdad”
“It felt like a hairdryer to the face.” Dane steps off a civilian bird into Kuwait—blasted by heat, staring at endless desert—and then rolls into Baghdad at dusk: gunfire in the distance, smoke in the air, burned trash, walls pocked with bullet holes. Vigilance hits 10/10—and he’s ready to get…