LSA Bushmaster is a low but sprawling city rising in the desert about 150 miles south of Baghdad. LSA stands for "logistics staging area," and Bushmaster is swiftly becoming just that, the hub of an incredible stream of fighting machines, earthmoving equipment, cargo containers and helicopters flowing toward it across southern Iraq.
The roads are clogged day and night, with a near bumper-to-bumper parade of green and tan vehicles, all with cryptic battle markings in white paint stenciled on their doors and tailgates. The coded markings identify unit associations in the battle plan and help with swift organization of convoys.