Line of Departure

I remember crossing the Kuwait/Iraq border in the middle of the night on March 18th, 2003.  It was dark in the track we were riding in.  I remember looking through my night vision scope and seeing a burned out Iraqi tank on our port side several hundred meters out.  I wondered if it had been there for awhile or if another unit had made contact with it.  I had a full combat load plus my SAW,  and wore a mopp suit, flak, and an LBV with grenades, ammo, night vision goggles, and a buttpack full of gear.  We had a rifle squad plus two assaultmen from weapons platoon all geared up.  Man, it was crowded in that track...