President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to American troops in Iraq on Wednesday, his first journey to an active combat zone since he took office.

The president landed on Wednesday.

Trump visited wounded U.S. troops last Christmas season, on Dec. 21, 2017, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. He also that month invited Coast Guard members to play golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

But before Wednesday’s trip to Iraq, Trump had taken some heat from critics for being the first president since 2002 not to make a Christmastime visit to troops in 2018.

He was also criticized in November for canceling a trip to an American military burial ground outside Paris in November due to weather. Two days after that, he skipped the traditional Veterans Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery.