Editor’s note: PGA TOUR veterans Frank Lickliter II, Corey Pavin, Jerry Kelly, Donnie Hammond and Howard Twitty are spending Thanksgiving week in Iraq paying tribute to the soldiers stationed there as part of the USO’s “Operation Links Handshake Tour.” While he is there, Lickliter will be writing a blog for PGATOUR.com. This is his first installment.

SOMEWHERE IN IRAQ -- We left Kuwait Wednesday morning in a C-130. The plane was making a re-supply run. The whole trip took about three hours. The cockpit was big enough for seven people so we actually got to sit in there for takeoff and landing, which was pretty amazing. We took some unbelievable photos of the Iraqi countryside, too. When we finally landed around 2 o’clock, we heard three words we never thought we’d actually hear:

Welcome to Baghdad.

As I write this, it’s around 7 p.m., and we’ve already done two meet-and-greets and autograph signings. We have another one scheduled for this evening, and then we’ll be done around 10. Believe it or not, we had Burger King and Pizza Hut for lunch -- and it tasted just like it does in the States. It was great. The only thing was, we were the only ones who didn’t have a gun, either a sidearm or a rifle.

The place we’re staying in tonight is spartan, but elegant. I feel totally safe. The windows are sandbagged up to the top -- three deep, in fact -- but I know that’s a safety precaution that’s been in place for several years. We are in the middle of a war, but none of us have had even a hint of nervousness due to the competence of the people traveling with us. We’re probably a lot safer than in some of the big cities in the States. As I sit here now, you can hear helicopters flying overhead. And about 400 yards from where we are staying, you can see one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. He had 55 in Baghdad, and it’s unbelievable the opulence that was built on the backs of the Iraqi people through terror.

The people we’ve met here are just incredible. We’re here to let them know that we care about them, and to a man and a woman, they thank us. It’s humbling. It really is. We are traveling with people from the USO, Armed Forces Entertainment and the MWR office. That stands for Morale, Welfare and Recreation, and I hope that what we’re going to do over the next few days can help the soldiers in that regard. We’re traveling in a non-descript tour bus. We haven’t come close to anywhere that we’d need an armored vehicle or anything like that. There haven’t been any issues as far as security. It’s unbelievable how dedicated and how squared away these people are. They are efficient, pleasant and they are true-blue Americans. One of the guys who is part of our security team is Trevor Garrett. He’s what you’d call an athlete. He’s got skills. He wants to be a better golfer, too, but I tell him he’s just got too many muscles.

All of us are having a blast. It’s amazing how many golf fans there are over here. There are guys who even recognize Jerry Kelly. (I say that with a smile on my face, of course.) The golf courses are few and far between, as you can imagine, but I have heard that there’s a possibility of seeing a driving range in the future. We brought over 3,500 Titleist and Pinnacle golf balls for the soldiers. We haven’t done any clinics yet, though, because everything we’ve done has been inside different military facilities.

The landscape over here is totally different than anything I’ve seen. It is literally one big sand trap. I haven’t seen a blade of grass yet -- except in a flower box. And there is no alcohol anywhere in the country. Most of us are used to relaxing with a beer but there is none to be had -- and I’ve asked. But they handle it extremely well.

They tell me they’re planning Thanksgiving dinner here for 350,000 people all across the country. It’s going to be amazing to be a part of that. The night before we left, I was thinking about this trip. We are going to be here for a week, and we miss our families like the soldiers miss theirs. But these guys are here during Thanksgiving -- and every other holiday, for that matter. It might be the fourth week into their deployment or the third week before they retire. But they are here because of what they do, and they are here because want to be here. They are doing magnificent job.