getting ready for the holidays, getting ready to travel somewhere. some of you need to be getting ready for snow. a major winter storm expected to drop more than a foot of snow in a number of places. reynolds wolf will have the very latest on what you need to know. you'll remember it started with shock and awe for america's long military involvement in iraq is now over. the last convoy left iraq and arrived in kuwait overnight. cnn was at the border crossing for this historic moment. >> it's been in planning for more than a year now. tremendous amount of coordination and synchronization every day but the amount of bases we've closed, redeployed equipment, brought all these troops out, it is quite a accomplishment. >> it is a feeling of elation. it really is. to see what we've accomplished in the last 8 1/2 years and to be part of the last movement out of iraq, hard to put words to it right now. >> it started with shock and awe. you remember that? almost nine years ago. it ended in a much different way. look at this. you're seeing them roll into kuwait about 500 u.s. service members from ft. hood, texas traveling in about 110 military vehicles that made a five-hour nighttime trip. the route, a cleared of any roadside bombs by the first elements of that convoy. up above, navy aforce and marine aircraft were providing cover there. also take a look, the border crossing gate. this is it. the border crossing gate linking iraq to kuwait, closing and that is a signature and symbolic moment. this officially end it all, the last u.s. military convoy. the iraq war for all intents and purposes -- over. it was in 2003 when the u.s. marines entered iraq from kuwait. spring of 2003. cnn's michael holmes was traveling with them then. michael has certainly come full circle now. he was there at the iraq-kuwait border overnight as the last u.s. military convoy arrived. he joins us now. michael, full circle for you, full circle for a lot of people in this country who have watched this over the past nine years. >> absolutely. nine years, 4,500 u.s. servicemen lost their lives, more than 30,000 wounded. $1 trillion spent on this war. they've left a country that's not technically at war but it is certainly not at peace. those guys coming across the border, t.j., were elated. you heard the horns in that video you heard a few minutes ago blowing the big air horns on these large armored vehicles, high fives. they went to a place initially called midway yard where they deweaponed, if you like, all the weapons in fact were cleared. then they head down here to camp virginia. there were hugs, posing with american flags, taking photographs. a few last mem ms. then they came here. behind me you can see there, they are gathering some of them to watch the washington redskins cheerleaders who are about to come out on that stage behind me. a little bit of recreation for these ladz as they've come back across the border. a lot of these fellows weren't in the military when this war began and as you saw, when we spoke earlier, i spoke to one young fellow, he said he was in ninth grade when it began. but for now they're going to be enjoying the evening now that they are out of iraq. no more soldiers in iraq, t.j. >> that's a lot different from what a lot of soldiers been going through the past several years. fun to hear some cheerleaders will be there entertaining them. this is their prize for getting out of iraq. one other thing to you here. you mentioned that young man who was in ninth grade. do a lot of these young men -- they get it and they're happy to be going home and knowing they're not going back but do they grasp -- are they really getting a good handle on the history they have been a part of now in. >> yeah. i think they do, even though they are all young men. it is amazing and over the years since 2003 i met a lot of these guys and talked to them. 18, 19 year-olds. in fact a general i was speaking to today, general buchanan, said his son was in high school when the war began. his son is now a captain in the u.s. military and has served three tours in afghanistan. that's how long this has gone on, just gives you a bit of a sense of the length of this war. yeah, they do have a sense of history. they spoke about it often when they came across the border and they've got a sense of -- that they achieved their mission. let's not be silly about this, iraq is still a deeply trouble country, great divisions in that country. a political system that's on very shallow foundation and militias that are still very active. people die in iraq every single day. but these guys -- i got to tell you, i've gone back every years since 2003 at least once -- impressed with these guys' dedication to mission. staying focus, they've carried out their task and they feel they have achieved something. general was saying there is still a long way to go despite the progress that's being made and a terrorist threat does still exist very much so in iraq. it's not particularly a happy place to be if you are an iraqi. but these fellows feel like they've done what's asked of them and are looking forward to getting home. takes two to four days to clear through the bureaucracy really of arriving here, then flying out. but they are looking forward to it. >> michael holmes there for us, thank you, as always. get you some numbers now about this war. when the war was at its peak in 2006, there was om 239,000 u.s. service members in iraq at more than 500 bases. the war cost more than $800 billion. almost 4,500 american service members died in this war. another 30,000 wounded. in all, 1.5 million americans served in iraq. the number of iraqi deaths, meanwhile, according to the group iraqi body count, more than 150,000. whifl tle the u.s. military involvement in iraq is considered over, we asked mark kimmitt about u.s. involvement that will continue. >> it is good to see the troops getting home for a well-deserved break. there are other contingencies around the world we'll be focused on. but if we make the mistake of just believing that not only is this the end of a chapter but it is the end of the book, we're going to be involved in iraq for many, many years. it is in a central spot in the middle east. i don't think we have seen the last of iraq. certainly the large diplomatic presence that will remain behind focused on the day to day activities will recognize that iraq remains instrumental and key to our o national security and our foreign policy. >> he mentioned diplomats there. more than 1,700 diplomats, advisors and other non-military personnel will remain in iraq, along with hundreds of civilian contractors an about 5,000 security contractors. turning to other news making headlines. tens of thousands of people are facing another day in shelters in the southern philippines after that tropical storm that military officials say 548 people are dead. another 500 missing. entire villages were washed away in the floodwaters. survivors are now without electricity and clean drinking water. and the first of the debris from japan's tsunami disaster has now reached the west coast of the united states. some of it has washed up in washington state. tons of debris washed out to sea after the earthquake and tsunami in japan. again talking some nine months ago. experts say more is coming, including homes, furniture, you might even see some cars roll up. nine minutes past the hour. we'll stick with weather here. check out this moment. you a fan of these types of things? not the snow. there's a big bear -- >> love panda bears. what's not to love when you see a panda bear? >> this panda, we got this video for you at least. got up yesterday in a park in china. had some py time in the snow. got caught on home video. fun for them. this is kind of natural for them. this is not their natural hab it the at this park but still, they're used to snow. >> the thing about the pandas, they don't have opposable thumbs. if so, someone needs to hand them a shovel and send them to texas. possibly over a foot of snowfall on the way. who wouldn't love to see a panda on the side of i-45 scraping off smoke from wind shields. earn your keep, pans today. don't just sit around and eat bamboo -- >> well, i didn't know we were going that direction with the panda story zblsh they're lovable. but toout absoluabsolutely seri. texas talking about not only heavy snow but high winds, talking white-out conditions. you see it there behind you? i want to give you another great shot right here. notice everything we have up here all the colors. almost like a grateful dead concert t-shirt,ll the variety of colors. blues, greens and pinks indicating your warnings, watches and advisories and even a blizzard warning for north texas and oklahoma panhandle. we'll talk about this wintry blast, how long it is going to last and what it will mean for other places like dallas, texas for the ft. worth area and even perhaps into portions of arkansas before the week is out. back to you. >> we'll check in with you in a bit. a possible momentum shift in iowa. mitt romney picks up some big-name backers. all this with just two weeks to go until the first votes in the republican presidential race. we'll tell you who's got romney's back coming your way next. hi. i'm kimberly ryan, currently deployed in helmand province, afghanistan. i'd like to say happy holidays to my family back home in norwich, connecticut. what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. 13 minutes past the hour now. the most qualified candidate in the race on the republican side for the nomination is mitt romney. at least that's what the "des moines register" thinks. that's how they describe mitt romney. influential newspaper is endo e endorsing romney in the republican presidential race, also getting on-board with romney, former senator and gop presidential nominee bob dole. let me bring in our cnn political reporter shannon travis. shannon, been a couple of good days here for mitt romney. can we call this momentum after picking up the endorsement of the governor of south carolina, now bob dole, and now this influential paper in iowa? >> that's right. it certainly seems like momentum, momentum that i'm sure newt gingrich and some of of the other gop rivals want to stop. but you're right, this is a big endorsement. it is the biggest newspaper in iowa, "the des moines register." and getting their backing is a dear coin for any of these republican presidential candidates, t.j. they all wanted it. they all met with the board except john hnn huntsman who is focusing his efforts on new hampshire. mitt romney got the endorsement. they call him a strong, reliable rock-solid leader. he is a conservative. listen to this -- critics charge that mitt romney is a flip-flopper, that he's changed a lot of his principles. democrats even say he has no core but the paper seemed to almost defend him against that. take a listen to this quote, t.j. though romney has attended to adapt positions to different times and places, he is hardly unique. it should be possible for politician to say i was wrong and i've changed my mind." however, a few lines down from that, the paper did say that they will leave it to the voters to decide whether romney is trying to have it both ways. so this is a pretty big deal. on the other hand, this is an establishment pick, t.j. "the des moines register" has picked establishment candidates before. this year conservative activist, tea party types, basically saying we don't want the establishment types, we don't want the insider endorsements. this may not bode well for him. so it is a big deal but it remains to be seen just how important or how many people this will actually sway. >> shannon travis for us there in des moines where he's been living for the past several months, for the most part. shannon, thank you so much. quarter past the hour here. today the candidates are in iowa. they're also on the phone. we'll explain here. rick perry, rick santorum, michele bachmann continuing their weekend tours of iowa, hitting some 15 cities and towns today alone combined. bachmann is also joining front-runners newt gingrich and mitt romney on the telephone. they're all taking part in a telephone forum hosted by the tea party patriots. also coming up, you've seen this before, a basketball fan comes down at halftime, he gets a chance to make a shot from half-court and you win some money? well, one fan, $25,000. and i wouldn't be telling you the story unless it went well. you'll see the video after the break. hi. this is captain brent thompson from afghanistan. i want to wish happy holidays to my folks bill and vickie thompson in columbus, montana. happy holidays and i love you. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off big stuff faster... or avoid interest on everyday things. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. 19 minutes past the hour. now our good friend, joe carter, from hln sports is here. we see this all the time -- halftime they pull a fan out of the stands, make this shot from half-court, you win some money. we don't see them go in that often. we'll get that to in a second. this other story will get peeking talking. >> got an eighth grade football coach who has his players burn their third place trophies. as you can imagine, the parents -- not happy at all. coach basically said he was trying to make a positive lesson out out of this whole thing but that's not how anyone in this situation interpreted it. people in this connecticut town are really worried about the message it sends basically saying if you don't finish in first or second place it really doesn't count. >> that's not right? >> what's that ricky bobby saying, it's not first, it's last? a few weeks after this team finished their season, they had like a team banquet like they always do. parents handed out the trophies. then these kids, the coach said let's go outside. had them all throw the trophies in the grass. you put a little kerosene on it, boom, set them on fire. people in the community are not happy at all. >> what an example. what kind of a man is this? i mean that blew my mind all together completely. >> i think it is silly. a trophy is a trophy and a win is a win and it makes no sense. >> some would say their motives were in the right place. actions not so much in the right place. probably in the wrong place. all three coaches have resigned from their jobs as middle schoolteachers and have apologized. there was some fallout. >> remind me again how old are these kids? >> eighth grade. >> what is that? 13 or so? have we heard from the kids? >> don't have any word from the kids just yet. >> this is an interesting debate actually because some will tell you, why are you rewarding third, fourth, fifth? i think in young athletics at what point do you teach kids, you came in sixth -- why should you get a reward. >> young kids, fourth, fifth-grader, you got a trophy, good job. as you get older, strive to be first, try to be the best. >> he burned them. that's hard core. turning to halftime. $5,000 on t-- 25,000 on the lin. >> at a game the fan gets the ball, pops it up and it goes. i love the end of this because it is at the university of florida. so of course he's a big gator fan which means he has to be a big tim tebow fan. of course, tebow and the tebowing is the phenomenon that's and there is their it is. which is a great segway to today's conversation to end on the fact that, yes, they are playing the broncos and patriots are playing today, everyone talking about tim tebow possibly winning his eighth game in nine starts. >> i think he will. >> have you seen tebowing.com? >> i have. >> if you haven't seen it yet, it is an incredible website. people taking pictures their prayer pose all over the world. unbelievable website. full disclosure, i am a huge broncos fan. >> okay, there it is. this is kind after another sports related story. this was at cowboy stadium last night after a high school football game. look at this. this golf cart takes off and looks like -- nobody's saying this is what happened, but the way it was going, it was a direct hit for these folks. >> i saw a youtube video and the cart was actually tucked away in the corner of the field and it just suddenly started running. it got about 50 yards worth of momentum. one of the people who got scooped up, the winning coach of the 5a team. he was doing an interview and had no idea it was coming. two people i think had to go to the hospital. >> we don't know how serious those injuries are. just a horrible scene there. they finally got it stopped. 23 minutes past the hour. we've been talking about the story on a lot of people's minds and you've seen the pictures -- the war is over. the last convoy of u.s. troops rolled out overnight. but a lot was left behind, including hundreds of bases. what's going to happen to all that empty space? we've got an example of a new super city being proposed. hi. i'm currently deployed to southwest asia. i'd like to send holiday greetings to my mom in tennessee. love you guys, hope to see you soon. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunits that i had at the university of phoenix, dealing wh profesonals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. 25 minutes past the hour. now nadia bilchik joining us for our "morning passport." nine years in iraq. >> that's a lot of money, a lot of infrastructure, and around 505 military bases. what the americans did was give back most of the military bases, about 500 to iraq. half of those will become iraqi military bases, but some of those bases have been auctioned off and one that was auction off was camp bukah, named in memory of the fire martial who died rescuing people. camp bucca has been auctioned off and it is both a hotel and a logistics center. the idea is, instead of a doorman, you get a gunman. so you get a high-security ho l hotel. >> the hotel is already there. >> i spoke to someone who stayed there, they said it is not exactly luxury but it is utilitarian and for people involved in the oil industry, it is very help. . a proposal for plans is, they'd like to turn this no more after center, container storage oil for the oil industry bearing in mind this particular base is right near the old fields so oil and service companies are operating nearby so that will be their clientele. >> they auction it off again. all the money goes back to the iraqi government? >> it was below land value. the americans give the military bases back to the iraqis. iraqis auction this off to a construction company. they make use of the infrastructure. you're seeing the plans. think about electricity. all the infrastructure that goes into having generators. they're providing water for 5,000 people in the area. so it is a very good commercial use of the military base. >> what we're seeing here is really way down the road. >> you're saying way down the line what the construction company -- and the area is about the size of disneyland. this is what they're proposing for this area, brilliantly located near the oil fields. on a very positive level, we're looking at from a war torn country to a booming oil industry. on a negative front you are saying does a hotel have to be like a prison in order for you to stay there? >> another chapter is going to be written but maybe this is positive. we can look forward to some economic development there. maybe this is something that could work. >> certainly a visionary this particular construction company to say how can we make best use of the infrastructure that already exists. >> nadia bilchik with our morning passport, there it is. maybe we'll see a grand opening down the road. >> that would be nice, a grand opening in iraq. just to the bottom of the hour now. a lot of people have to adjust to life after deployment. we'll talk to a military chaplain to find out how they can help. a good conversation we want you to hear in today's "faces of faith." stay with me.bo . that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. but my nose is still runny. 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[ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. the bottom of the hour on this cnn sunday morning. welcome back. i'm t.j. holmes. looking at some of the stories making head loons now. testimony expected to resume this morning in the pre-trial hearing of army private bradley manning accused of leaking more than a quarter million classified u.s. military documents that ended up eventually on the wikileaks website. he faces 22 counts of vifl lating military code including the most serious of the charges, aiding the enemy. also search and rescue operations under way after a migrant boat sank off the coast of java in indonesia. two people confirmed dead. more than 100 still missing. emergency officials telling cnn almost 90 people have been rescued. 200 people were on-board the wooden boat when it capsized traveling to the australian territory of christmas island. also southern baptist recalling its breast cancer bible. they say it had ties to planned parenthood. the pink bibles were sold at walmart stores and other major retailers. $1 for each copy sold went to a dallas-based cancer foundation. turning to our "faces of faith" segment this morning. on the battlefield military chaplains help service members cope from war. now chaplains are helping with a different kind of stress. joining me air force captain jeffrey mcmillan, chaplain at robbins air force base right here in georgia. good morning. i know a lot of people are in a sway celebra way celebrating and happy to see what's coming to the end but what's coming in terms of challenges when they get back home. >> first thank you, it is an honor to be here. there is definitely a lot of challenges that our military members face when they come home. adjustments after being away from home is great, both personally and for their families as well. >> how much do you see that over the past nine years here, this war, still war going on in afghanistan as well, do they oftentimes question their faith? >> you know, actually it's interesting, in the deployed environment, many military members will tell you that it's actually a highlight in their journey of faith. many of the distractions from being at home are grooved and you are very focused on what you are doing, at the same time facing challenges of life and death. so it draws you very close to your faith as well. >> as a chaplain here we talk -- you deal with religion a lot, but how much of it is just serving as a counselor, maybe not something based in religion? >> that's true. we as chaplains are chaplains to all members regardless of their faith background. so yes, we do a lot of counseling for marriage, personal issues, family issues, we take care of a broad spectrum. >> how difficult is to help people get a handle on that? we know the divorce rate is really high in the country in general, in the general population, but certainly high among members of the military. what are some unique challenges for a member of the military coming back from a war zone having to cope with a certain type of stress there and then you walk into a different kind of environment in your home? >> yes. and it is a stark contrast. at home, in a deployed setting you are used to making very quick decisions dealing with traumatic events. then you come back home, it is much more of a normal environment and just emotionally it is difficult to re-adjust how to respond, even when i was deployed and came home i didn't expect that i would have as much adjustment as i did have. >> from personal experience you are bringing up, you said adjustment for you even surprised you. >> it did. it did. in fact, i had military members tell me while i was deployed to expect up to six months before you really feel normal again and i found that to be true. i doubted it, but it is certainly true. it took me that long. >> how scary an even dangerous for a lot of these members of the military who are in a war zone, you always got somebody right by you who's got your back who knows you day in and day out who can identify if something is a little off or a little wrong. how much of a danger is it that they don't have that when they come home, nobody's really able to be that wing man to identify something that might be going on? >> that's exactly what we encourage our troops to be everywhere they are, is to be a wing man. i have a success story just from this past summer. an airman told me i've got a buddy of mine who i think could use talking to someone and it would be really helpful to him. found out he was very close to taking his own life and i credit the airman for taking care of his fellow airman to be able to make that possible that he'd get the help he needed. >> do something here. give people some advice, whether they are the spouse living in the house, the uncle, the cousin, the friend, the neighbor, a lot of these members of the military are coming home. what do we need to do to support them when they come home? >> i think to me, whether you're in or out of the military, a strong sense of community is critical. if one thing we lack in our society generally, it is that community where we really depend on each other. and when our troops come home, they need their fellow man and woman whether they are military or not to say, i'm here for you, no matter what you need. >> on the other flip side of that, talk to those members of the military. i know you all try to stress this but these are some tough guys and gals and they are used to taking care of themselves and others an stressful situations and being able to handle it but they aren't used to sometimes taking care of themselves when they get back an reaching out for that help. >> that's one thing the military does very well. is it prepares its military members to not see reaching out for help as a sign of weakness but strength. that you cannot live on your own without anybody else to help you. you've got to have people with you. >> all right, captain mcmillan, thank you so much for coming in and being a part of this conversation. a lot of people are certainly happy to see that last conroy come out but a lot of challenges as we all know still ahead. thank you so much. good to see you this morning. 37 minutes past the hour. if you want to hear more about our conversation here and also just all things related to faith an belief, go to our believe blog, cnn.com/belief and share your thoughts there. we'll check back in with reynolds wolf here in just a moment -- or this moment. i hear him making some noise back there. are you ready, reynolds? >> dude. i'm always ready. always ready to talk about weather. we have a heck of a storm that's brewing over parts parts of the four corners eventually bringing heavy snow to parts of the central and southern plains. talking up to a foot in some locations. could be brutal. that with the strong winds could give us whiteout conditions. very tough travel times. we'll tell what you this may mean for other places the next several days. back to you. reynolds, thanks so much. and the conversation we've been having this morning and the story everybody will be talking about -- the last u.s. military convoy rolled across the border from iraq into kuwait overnight. you may have missed this. overnight you may have been sleeping but what you are seeing there is not just as simple as a gate closing. that is an historic moment, a symbolic moment and really the end of a long journey that has really defined the live of so many families and members of our military. our joe johns will be with me in a second. we are getting ready for cnn's "state of the union." stay with us. also coming up, dr. sanjay gupta has a new show -- another new show. it's called "the next list." this week he is talking to an interactive artist. >> before the ipad i used to joke that i make useless programs. but they are as useless as a song, a movie, a story, something like that. all of a sudden with the ipad i could just go direct tloi people and say check this thing out. we don't even have to label what it is. it is just called grav x. called bubble harp. see if you like it. and all of a sudden they did. >> catch that on sundays, "the next list," with our dr. sanjay gupta. set that dvr for 2:00 eastern time. one more gift... 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[ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. as we get close to the top of the hour getting ready for "state of the union" with joe johns in today for candy crowley. my man, joe. i missed you the last couple times you been to atlanta but good to see you here. did the senate get something done yesterday? >> well -- they passed a tax cut extension, as you know. if you went to bed last night thinking that $1,000 that i wanted in my paycheck over the next year is a done deal, apparently it is not. the house of representatives has got to take that up and what we're hearing this morning from the house is they're not happy at all about this two-month extension. they think there should have been a 12-month extension. so we're going to get an opportunity to talk about jewit spulk and robert menendez, a democrat. want to ask them, what do we do now? this is the week before christmas. the senate has done what it's going to do. we thought the senate was going away. now the house of representatives has to weigh in. how they're going to get this deal done before the beginning of the year. a little bit more brinks mman sp on capitol hill which has been a very controversial year for the u.s. congress. >> have faith in congress, joe. of course they'll get all this o done on the american people's behalf. >> you said it. presidential politics. you got a presidential candidate with you today? >> that's right. going to talk to jon huntsman, the former governor of new hampshire -- i'm sorry, the governor of utah. i say new hampshire because he's there so much. he's trying to get a win or at least do very well and we're going to sit down, talk to him a little bit about policies, about the things he's thinking. a lot of people say of course he is a conservative but he's really reaching out to independents and so we want to try to quiz him on that and find out what he thinks he's going to be able to do in order to get ahead of mitt romney who is the guy who's presumed to be doing the best in new hampshire, if you will, right now. not to mention everything else in presidential politics. we're just a couple weeks away from the iowa caucuses. >> lastly, give us the rest of your rundown. >> the other thing of course is the thing you sort of promoed there, and that is the end of the iraq war. the last troops leaving. did we get it right? you know, if you look at the polls, it is very close. a lot of americans don't think we actually achieved our aims in iraq. what about the president? will he be able to claim a victory here? do people really care about that and going forward, what is iraq going to look like and what is going to be the relationship between the united states and iraq as we go forward. we've got a lot to talk about here. and really looking at the place of the united states in history on this weekend right before we get to the new year, t.j. >> got a lot going on, joe johns on "state of the union." always good to see you. folks, you'll see more of joe johns in just a few minutes. he's less than 15 minutes away. 9:00 eastern time, 6:00 pacific. joe johns hosting "state of the union. we've been talking a lot about that last ride out of iraq this morning and we're on-board as that final convoy of u.s. troops crosses the border. we'll take you along. i'm rolando martinez here in southwest asia. this greetings is going to my parents, family and friends in enterprise, alabama. happy holidays, i love you very much. 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[ sound of air horns ] >> that was about 500 u.s. service members from ft. hood, texas, traveling in about 110 military vehicles. they made a five-hour overnight trip into kuwait. route cleared of any roadside bombs by the first elements of that convoy. navy, air force and marines covered the convoy. >> it is a feeling of elesiatio. to see what we've accomplish in the last 8 1/2 years, then to be part of the last movement out of iraq is hard to put words to it right now. >> combat operations in iraq ended august 31st of last year. this is a historic drawdown, the largest since the war in vietnam. this last convoy of u.s. troops, now that it's gone and crossed the border while you were sleeping, what was it like to be in that final convoy? our martin savidge rode along. >> reporter: still riding in the convoy the one that left iraq at 2:30 in the morning, now in friendly territory of kuwait on their way to camp virginia. it was a five-hour drive through the darkness. i'm riding with the protection of this mrap, this very large armored vehicle we're inside but also with the help of some military police out of ft. hood. they were the ones that provided the security for this final convoy and that's no small measure of course because there were very, very strong security concerns. that's why all the secrecy to make sure the last convoy out of iraq wasn't going to leave on december 3 s1st as set by president obama, but some weeks earlier. the idea there making sure anybody planning some sort of attack wouldn't really know when the last americans would leave. seems to have worked well. no reports of any attacks or ieds. there was a lot of cover overhead. aircraft and still traveling in convoy can be a little difficult so we are slowing down here. but for the most part, it's been a problem-free run all the way from iraq into history. martin savidge, cnn, kuwait. >> as we get close to the bottom of the hour now, getting close to "state of the union" with joe johns in for candy crowley today. and also, we'll try to keep reynolds wolf from crying. >> i'm kevin olson with the 70th medium truck detachment out of kuwait. we'd like to wish everybody back home a happy holiday. >> happy holidays! 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