For the past four weeks First Lieutenant Sidney Leslie’s mind was not on military convoys in Iraq but just on packing up, loading trucks and going home to Bedford, Virginia, USA. His 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment ran military convoys across Iraq but is now among thousands of troops pulling out as the US military cuts its numbers in Iraq to 50000 by August 31 when combat operations end. “We started about three months ago. The whole process to turn in equipment took a whole month,” said Leslie, Executive Officer at Alpha Company, speaking while soldiers load their rucksacks on to a truck in the middle of the night. The operation involved in extricating the US military from Iraq after 7-1/2 years of war is one of the biggest logistical challenges it has ever faced. Almost 100000 US soldiers have been redeployed over the past 18 months, many to Afghanistan where NATO-led forces are confronting a resurgent Taliban. Around 2.2 million pieces of equipment, including thousands of tanks, armoured troop carriers and trucks, have streamed out of the country and more than 500 of 600 bases, some the size of small cities, closed down or handed to Iraqi counterparts. Just under a million items worth 151 million US dollars (USD), ranging from SUVs and Humvees to air conditioners, have been deemed surplus to US requirements and donated to Iraqi security forces. Based in Contingency Operating Base Adder, or Camp Adder, near Nassiriya, 300 km (185 miles) south of Baghdad …

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