It's just before 8pm Baton Rouge time, and we're just south of Halifax - heading across the Atlantic Ocean. I'm travelling with Eric Breaux - who's an award-winning photojournalist. Eric and I have worked together on projects before, but never on something quite this intense.

Over the next 24 hours, we're continuing on our trek to Iraq. We're the first TV News Team from Louisiana to embed with troops in Iraq since this conflict began five years ago. We'll be stationed at Camp Taji - which is an airbase that's about twenty miles north of Baghdad. At one time, Camp Al Taji (as it was known then) was a strong-hold for Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Army. It served as the  Iraqi Army's primary service center for tanks. It was also a place where it's believed the Iraqi Army did research and some development with chemical weapons.

Now, though, it's been taken over by the US Army - and it's a spot that's used to train new members of the Iraqi Army. It's also the home of soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard who are serving in the 165 Mechanized Battalion. It's a group of Louisiana soldiers who are the brains behind the movement of goods and supplies to troops throughout Iraq. They're led by Beau Bradford - who also oversaw their training for this mission and Camp Shelby which is near Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Our next stop is Frankfurt, Germany. The in-flight computer says we're about  37-hundred miles away, so I'll try to get some sleep. After Frankfurt, Eric and I head to Kuwait, where we will meet up with Soldiers from the US Army who will lead us to a staging area. We'll have to be screened by detectives - get fingerprinted, have scans done of our eyes, and be issued credentials by a team of Soldiers. That process could take a few days.

Then - we're off to Camp Taji. It's not clear, at this point, how we'll get their from Kuwait. One thing is certain - our transport there will be in the middle of the night in order to protect us and the people who are helping us get to Iraq. Eric and I have to wear ballistic glasses, body armor, and helmets to insure our safety while we're in the volatile region. However, soldiers I've talked with say they feel safe and expect we will as well.

I'll keep you all posted on our progress through this website, and we'll start filing reports on Monday. I'm going to try to get some rest on the flight. I'll send over another update once we've arrived in Kuwait.

David D'Aquin