Flying into Camp Anaconda in Iraq, a group of WWE Superstars expected to be greeted warmly by the U.S. soldiers stationed there. Instead, their greeting was a hot one -- with the heat generated by small arms fire.
 
As the Blackhawk they traveled in landed, Carlito, Ron Simmons, Mickie James, Chris Jericho and other Superstars could see a ring of soldiers surrounding the landing zone with rifles drawn. They immediately heard the shouting just as the chopper doors opened.
 
"Let's go! Let's move!" yelled the soldiers. While the Superstars ran for shelter, smoke bombs exploded around them, covering their exit from possible enemy snipers in the area.
 
"They had us drop and run. It got serious really quick," Carlito told WWE.com. "I had Mickie on my back and carried her. [The soldiers said] that area was a hot zone about two months before."
 
The Superstars, running from station to station at the base, couldn't help but notice inquisitive looks on soldiers' faces, as if they were questioning why the celebrity guests had been so close to a danger zone.
 
"This is my first time going over to where the real fire was going down," Ron Simmons explained. "There are very few things that might scare me, but I was worried. There is no joke what is going on down there. My hat is off to them; they deserve everything we can do for them, and more."
 
Even though there was considerable strife outside, the soldiers at the base were visibly happy to see the Superstars and get a little comfort and friendly faces from home. Except …
 
"They were all asking, ‘Where's the beer?' and I was like, ‘I wish I could give you guys one, because you deserve it,'" Simmons recalled, sounding a little saddened that he couldn't oblige their request.
 
For Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, he found his visit a little rougher this year, but still more comfortable than what the troops experience on a daily basis.
 
"The living accommodations were more rugged this year," Hardy explained. "You don't sleep that much, between doing appearances and just roughing it with the troops."
 
The visits to a military medical center were especially memorable for World Tag Team co-Champion Hardcore Holly. In his fourth trip to the Middle East, Holly met a soldier who had been hit with a salvo from a grenade launcher -- except the grenade hadn't exploded. It took the steady hand of a surgeon outdoors on a helipad to defuse the live projectile before it could be removed from the soldier's leg.
 
"We asked him if he was going home, and he said, ‘No, I'm going back out in the field if I can walk.'  I was like, dang! These soldiers are very committed to their job," Holly marveled.
 
"I enjoy going over there, simply because we help their morale," he added. "The soldiers are all grateful and appreciative, but we're grateful for them. They're the heroes. They're the Superstars, not us."